Sonic: Warhammer 40,000
by Emperor Justin
Summary: The Emperor's finest have been sucked through the Warp to a mysterious planet filled with mutants and heretics. They will cleanse in His Name. Will they succeed, or will Sonic stop them? Yeah, they're Space Marines. They'll probably succeed.
1. Ch 1: Through the Warp

_Author's note: Since the Archie Comics universe is a no-no as far as fan-fic goes, I have cobbled together information from every other sonic resource available, including Sonic X, the Sonic games, old Sonic TV shows, the UK Sonic the Comic, and my own head. This incarnation of the Sonic universe does not follow any established continuity or canon. I've taken a few liberties with the 40k source material, but have tried to stay as loyal to the original source material as possible, to honor the Glorious Emperor. _

"In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war." –Warhammer 40,0000

"WH40kcan make anything Awesome…This is my creed. The Emperor's hand guides all." Charles Behpin

"That's way past cool!" – Sonic the Hedgehog

**I. Through the Warp**

The skies above Malakh III were the color of raw flesh, vapor trails from jets and rockets stretched across it expanse like veins, and the setting sun was an angry tumor on the horizon that illuminated the carnage on the ground. The air was thick with the copper scent of blood, the rot of corpses and worse things. The servants of Nurgle had been here, and the stench of his children was nauseating.

Sergeant Iruel Dungaan observed the cleansed plains of what had only an hour before been a battlefield. The bodies of his chapter brothers lay beside the wretched heretics, mutants, and daemons of Chaos. Here and there, brothers from other squads roamed the field, the eerie quiet interrupted by the occasional short burst of a bolt pistol and the mewling death rattle of some wretched thing on its way back to its dark masters.

Iruel stood beside the remains of his squad: Brother Zerachiel Uldoc and Brother Dumah Golaan. The other two squad members had died honorably for the Emperor against the forces of Chaos, taking hundreds of heretics screaming to hell with them before they were engulfed in the twisted energies of the Warp. A Space Marine could ask for no better.

Here and there Iruel could still sense twists in the air, odd pulses that showed up for an instant in front of his red bionic eye before vanishing again. There was still some threat present, and he must remain ever vigilant.

As a sergeant of one of many squads in the Iron Hands Fifth Company, Iruel had seen enough hellish surprises and unfortunate brothers succumb to the lull after a battle. He felt himself relax somewhat though as he heard the heavy tromp of mechanical footsteps behind him. The Venerable Dreadnought Toramech stomped his way across the field, crushing bone and flesh and armor beneath his heavy feet.

"They fought well Sergeant," Toramech said in his hollow, echoing voice. The power claw at his left flexed around the air, as if still eager to crush something; the lascannon at his right still hummed with energy.

"They did, and they would have continued to fight well had I not been so weak," Iruel replied. "They are not the first I have lost, and I doubt they shall be the last."

"You cannot blame yourself Sergeant," Zerachiel said, his voice amplified through his helmet. "You completed your objective. The Chaos Lord is dead, and this place will be cleansed."

Iruel grunted and looked away from Zerachiel. He was the newest member of Fifth Company, and only had his left bionic fist so far. At his other side, Dumah remained silent as ever, cradling his heavy flamer and scanning the horizon with both of his bionic eyes.

"A victory for the Emperor is a glad thing Sergeant," Toramech said, swiveling his upper torso to face Iruel. "Your men have done their duty and done it well. They shall not be forgotten. Your time would be better spent preparing for the next battle than berating yourself."

"Of course Toramech. Thank you," Iruel said, then paused to listen to the chatter in his ear.

"This is Captain Zephon," the Captain's voice rumbled into Iruel's ear, entirely mechanical. He had replaced much of his weak flesh ages ago. "Glory to the Emperor for our victory today, In His Name," the Captain said, and there were echoing roars of "For the Emperor!" and "In His Glorious Name!" across the battlefield.

"We achieved much today, but our work is not done. This planet must be free of the taint, and we must be certain before we establish a permanent base here. Remain vigilant. Tactical squads one through three, continue your patrols. Tactical squads four through six, return to forward command. Assault squads…" the Captain continued on. Iruel had his orders, and he did not need to hear the rest.

"Come along then Brothers. We will begin patrol to the south. Toramech, will you be joining us?" Iruel asked the massive lumbering coffin.

"It would be my honor Sergeant," Toramech said and marched a short distance ahead of the other three. Zerachiel kept close behind, clearly in awe of the dreadnought. Iruel suppressed a smile at the newcomer's adoration then stopped. There was another anomaly on his read out. Dumah had stopped as well and both of them looked to their right.

"Hold. Disturbance to the west," Iruel said. "Probably just residual Warp energies. Stay ready."

The three marines and the dreadnought crested the next hill, and found themselves standing at the lip of a large crater. The ground sloped down into a bowl shape, filled with corpses and a shallow pool of blood at the center. Above the crimson pool was a rip in the air. The air shimmered like a heat wave and daemonic energies sparked and crackled in the center of the crater. Beyond the foul energies was an infinite realm of nothing but madness and temptation and gore. Iruel instantly raised his bolt pistol and chainsword at the same instant the others readied their weapons.

"It looks like a Warp gate," Zerachiel said. "But…stable."

"The Warp is anything but stable Brother," Toramech intoned and stepped forward, power claw crackling with energy.

"Nothing's coming out," Zerachiel whispered, as if afraid his voice might summon some new horror.

"Yet," Dumah grunted. When he did speak, it was usually in monosyllables.

"Command, this is Sergeant Iruel Dengaan," Iruel said.

"Report Sergeant," a voice replied on the other end.

"Squad has located what appears to be a small, localized Warp disturbance. Brother Dumah is sending coordinates now."

"Received, purge anything that comes out, continue observation. Out." The voice clicked off with a hiss of static.

"We just…watch it?" Zerachiel asked.

"None of us are Librarians, and are not qualified to deal with this sort of abnormality. It seems small enough. We should be able to handle anything that comes out until command makes a decision. It may well close on its own."

Iruel studied the wavering gash in the air, and seriously doubted it would be as simple as that.

***

The skies above Station Square were a clear, serene blue, with only a few soft puffs of clouds, one of which was idly making its way in front of the bright yellow sun. The people of Station Square busied themselves about their daily lives, content in their safety.

Sally Acorn sat out in one of the many parks of the beautiful city, watching the clouds pass lazily overhead and sighed.

"Sally?" a small childlike voice said beside her. Sally looked over and smiled as she saw Tails, his namesakes swishing back and forth behind him.

"Hey Tails," Sally replied. "Something up?"

"It's about Sonic," the small fox said, wringing his gloved hands. Sally frowned. Eggman had been defeated, again, by Sonic but the blue hedgehog had left after the fat genius, following the trail of one of his apparently limitless eggmobiles over the horizon. Still, the city had been celebrating for the past week, as well as rebuilding.

"I just thought that with Eggman beaten, he would finally stick around more, and things would get better," Tails said.

"Things are better Tails," Sally said. "We've made a lot of progress. The city will be completely repaired before you know it. We'll be okay."

Tails nodded and sighed, his ears drooping a bit. Sally ruffled his hair between his ears and looked down at him. "Where's Amy Rose? She's been a bit upset about Sonic's abrupt departure. I'm sure she'd welcome some company."

"She went off to Emerald Coast to pick some special tropical flowers or something girly like that," Tails said and scowled. Sally laughed. For all of the little fox's bravery, he was still just a child. "I'll go try and cheer her up I guess," Tails added and waved to Sally as he left.

Sally returned the wave and returned her gaze to the blue sky above. "Sonic…" she sighed heavily, and hoped that they were all as well off as she had told Tails.

***

Eggman sat in a large, ovoid-shaped chair on the command deck of one of his smaller egg carriers. He had summoned it from his eggmobile days ago and met it somewhere over the ocean. The command deck was currently being run by a variety of badniks Eggman had designed ages ago. He'd never intended to have to use these inferior models again, but he was in a jam, and any help would do right now.

Eggman scowled as he studied one of the dozens of floating holographic monitors in front of him. His long, bristly mustached quivered in agitation.

"No. 53, what is this?" Eggman demanded from one of the mechanical drones nearby. No. 53 was a clunky, dilapidated looking thing: really just a square box of a torso supported by spindly legs, and has equally spindly arms and a mushroom-like head. The red and yellow paint job had long since faded into something resembling orange and cream, at least, where there was still paint. Its green eyes flickered in recognition and it swiveled around on its waist to face its creator. He had to crane his neck back to look up at the machine, barely coming up past its waist.

"It appears to be an unclassified form of weather anomaly, a few miles away from Station Square, in the Emerald Coast region," No. 53 replied in a dull, echoing tone that spoke of eternal boredom.

"A weather anomaly?"

"Yes, master. The long range sensors are picking up something similar to a small, localized electrical storm, but the amount of energy detected is past what our equipment can register."

"Keep an eye on that. If it's that close to Station Square, I'd bet my goggles it has something to do with that foul hedgehog," Eggman said, and then turned his attention to one of the other monitors.

***

Far removed from the cold steel of Eggman's egg carrier, Amy Rose sat amidst a small cluster of bright orange tropical flowers, picking at each one idly. The ocean wasn't far, and its quiet murmur soothed her. The shade from a surrounding copse of palms kept the worst of the sun's glare from her.

"He loves me, he loves me not…he loves me, he loves me not…Sonic!" the little pink hedgehog exclaimed and stamped her foot, startling a small flock of seagulls into the air. "How dare you run off like that again! When I've been waiting for you for so long…"

Amy flopped back down among the flowers, sending up a scatter of plucked petals around her, the results of her morning's efforts. She was about to resume when something caught her eye. There was a strange light behind some of the palms, aware from the beach. It flickered and pulsed and surged like it was alive. Amy stood, dropping the latest flower to the ground.

Amy wound her way through the trees and stopped in wonder at the curious phenomena she saw in front of her. It was a strange hole in the air, ringed by light and energies of various colors that squirmed like snakes.

"What is it?" Amy whispered as she approached the rip in reality slowly, extending a hand towards it.

***

The tech priest, somebody Iruel had never seen before, approached the Warp gate, the large mechanical, spider-like limbs on his back waving and clanking as if in agitation. His entirely metallic face was expressionless, though Iruel thought his bionic eyes glowed a bit brighter as they observed the abomination in the air.

"Greetingssszzz," the priest said in a voice even more mechanical sounding than Toramech's. His voice box was likely replaced ages ago with a mechanical variation, resulting in the strange clicks and buzzing sounds when he spoke. "An interezzzting aberration we have here sar-sar-sergeant-tuh-tuh-tuh."

"Indeed, priest. While we are glad for your assistance, I thought this might be more appropriate for a Librarian to oversee," Iruel said.

"Indee-dee-eed. However-er-er, the Librarian is currently occupied relaying communica-kay-kay-shunnzzz for the captain. I will be sending command information regarding this…distuurr-bu-bu-bance."

Iruel and the others took a few steps back as the priest moved in on legs that whirred and creaked with ancient machinery. Clearly this priest had been around for sometime. The Iron Hands had a much closer relationship to the Adeptus Mechanicus than any other chapter, and paid them great respect.

"Should we…be doing anything sergeant?" Zerachiel asked. Iruel shook his head.

"No brother. The priest knows what he is about," Iruel said as he watched the priest place several monitoring devices on the ground, withdrawing them from his black, tattered cloak with bionic hands. Some of the fingers split open to reveal dozens of long, insect-like metal appendages that tweaked minute dials and buttons on the devices.

"What might your name be priest?" Iruel asked.

"I am Engin-jin-jin-jin-seer Rolos, sergeant," the tech priest replied. "Though for some time I wasszzz also Rune Priest Rolos." Rolos clanked away as he continued to work, muttering litanies over the tiny machines and blessing them with the machine spirit until he was finished. He had made a sort of circle around the warp gate, , then pulled another device from his cloak, something with a small screen.

"Interesszzzting-ing-ing," Rolos said.

"What?" Dumah asked and raised his heavy flamer at the Warp gate.

"Therrrrre appears to be an energy surge. It isszzz growing," Rolos replied. The many mechanical limbs on his back sprang to attention, like several metal scorpion tails raised to strike. A chain-blade on one of them whirred to life.

"Stand ready brothers!" Iruel said and stepped forward, directly in front of the gate, chainsword snarling for blood.

***

Amy Rose gazed up at the gate, entranced by the kaleidoscope of colors that flashed in front of her. As she came nearer, the gate began to beat, like a heart, faster and faster.

"It's…so pretty," Amy breathed, and touched the edge of the gate. There was a sudden bright flash and Amy screamed, trying to draw her hand back. As she did, she felt it pulled back, as if the light itself held her.

"Help! Somebody!" Amy screamed as loud as she could. "Sooonniiic!"

Her cry was cut short as the force of the gate won out over her own pathetic attempts to free herself, and sent her hurtling into the light and through eternity.

***

"It isszzz spiking," Rolos said, watching the gate as it began to pulse and crackle with its twisted energies.

***

"Master," No. 53 said as it once again turned to face Eggman. "The abnormality has greatly increased its energy signature."

"By how much?" Eggman's replied as he pulled up the monitor again.

"It has shown an increase by over nine thousand percent in the last four point three-five seconds."

"What?! Send one of our observation drones to that sector immediately! No! Send a dozen! I want multiple feeds. Do it now!" Eggman roared into the radio before abruptly clicking off.

"Affirmative."

***

Tails was enjoying the sun and the salty air of the beach when he heard a familiar voice cry out, "Help! Somebody! Sooonniiic!"

"Amy?" Tails gasped and began running forward, twirling his tails up for flight as he did. Several swimsuit-clad beach goers were already turning toward the screams, but many paused to look upwards at the flying fox. "Hang on Amy! I'm coming!" Tails shouted as he took to the air, flying as fast as he could in the direction of his friend's panicked scream.

***

Amy felt like she was being torn to pieces and put back together again. She screamed and couldn't hear herself. She was silent and heard other voices, awful voices whispering to her, tearing at her mind and her soul, mocking her with cruel laughter. There were hungry grunts in the void, eager for her flesh, and other voices that expressed an obsessive longing to taste her spirit, to ravage it as others would ravage her body. They would send her howling and begging for oblivion, to have never existed, and when they had decimated her body to nothing but blood, when her soul was a ragged strip of despair, they would repair her and begin again.

"NO!" Amy screamed, and then it stopped. She felt muddy ground under her hands and knees, could feel hot wind across her skin, and taste the tears dribbling into her mouth. Amy sobbed for a moment, shutting her eyes as she squeezed the soft mud between her fingers. When she opened them, she was staring down into a puddle of red fluid. She realized after a second that it was blood, then stood up and screamed again, staring at her crimson hands.

"What…is it sergeant?" somebody asked from in front of her. Amy cut her screaming short and looked up at 3 towering, armored men, a horrific man covered in metal with robotic legs sprouting from his back, and a large, squat mecha. All of them were armed, and all of them were pointing their weapons at her.

***

Iruel had been ready for any sort of daemonic horror or surge of heretics or Chaos Marines to pour through the gate, but not this. He allowed his finger to leave the activation switch of his chainsword and the ferocious mechanical roaring of the weapon died.

"What…is it sergeant?" Zerachiel asked. Iruel was at a loss. He had seen many spawn of the Eye of Terror, altered by the Warp, but never a creature such as what stood before him now, looking up in obvious terror and confusion. Still, it had come through the Warp gate, and it was not human, and that was enough.

"It is a mutant, and that is all we need to know, brother," Iruel said, and raised one massive boot.

"Wh-where am I? Please! M-my name is Amy Rose and...NO!" The creature said as it saw the sergeant raise his foot with the obvious intent of crushing her like a bug. She turned to run, but the abomination's legs failed her and she went sprawling in the pool of blood beneath the gate. She looked up at Iruel and let out an incoherent sob before his boot silenced her. There was the quick snap of bones and the soft squish of the mutant's cursed flesh mingling with the blood-soaked dirt beneath it.

"For the Emperor," Iruel said, and stamped his foot several more times to make sure. Dumah could see one thin pink arm ending in a white-gloved hand sticking out from the side of the sergeant's boot and found the sight darkly amusing.

"Heh," Dumah said and lowered his flamer.

"I have not seen any creature of Chaos such as that before," Toramech said. "We shall have to deliver whatever remains of it to command so they may study the curious mutant."

"Well whatever it was, it was the most pathetic servant of Chaos I've ever seen," Zerachiel said.

"Do not be so certain, brother. It was likely one of Slaanesh's daemons, made to look innocent and harmless, but likely concealed some unspeakable horror that it would have unleashed had we let it survive. It was an affront to mankind. Do not hesitate to purge its kind on sight," Iruel said.

"Oh of-of course sergeant!"

"What isszz this?" Rolos suddenly asked of nobody in particular. He was staring intently at his monitoring device and then up at the gate. "We must fall back brothers!"

"Wha-?" Iruel started to ask, but was cut off by a sound like thunder as the gate suddenly expanded to dozens of times its original size. Iruel sought for some kind of traction on the muddy ground as he felt the gate begin to pull him in, but the blood-soaked earth provided none.

"Sergeant!" Zerachiel cried as he was taken off-balance and sucked into the gate.

"Zerachiel!" Iruel shouted and desperately tried to grab him. His shift in weight tipped him forward and after Zerachiel, into the Warp. Behind him he glanced and briefly saw Dumah, Toramech, and Rolos all succumbing to the pull of the Warp, and then was enveloped by oblivion.


	2. Ch 2: Strangers in a Strange Land

**II. ****Strangers in a Strange Land**

Iruel sat up amidst a small pile of flower petals, feeling warm sunlight on the organic parts of his face. Birds cried out above him, but what gave him pause was the sky. Iruel had never seen a sky like this before: pure blue, without blemish, untainted by pollution or dark magic. It unnerved him.

"S-Sergeant?" Zerachiel muttered, sitting up beside him. The young marine rubbed at the side of his helmet and then looked around for the others. Toramech was standing upright but motionless a few yards away, while Dumah was already on his feet, heavy flamer at the ready. Rolos was lying unconscious underneath a palm tree, his mechanical limbs twitching erratically.

Iruel stood up and checked his equipment: bolter, chainsword, armor, all intact. He seemed to be unharmed, and all his bionic parts were fully functional.

"Zerachiel, check on Rolos and Toramech. Remain with them. Brother Dumah and I will investigate the immediate area. Stay alert," Iruel said and waved Dumah to follow him.

"Yes Sergeant!" Zerachiel replied as he stood and approached the hulking dreadnought.

Dumah followed silently behind his sergeant as they passed through the copse of palms and onto a vast, pristine beach. He glanced up briefly as a large shadow passed overhead, but he saw nothing except the flocks of seagulls.

"What sort of place is this?" Iruel said as he scanned the beach. It was lined with humans, which he was glad to see, although they were all scantily clothed. Many were playing in the clear blue waters or on the blinding white sand. Several people nearest the marines stood up in shock and backed away immediately.

"Robots!" somebody along the beach cried, and instantly all eyes were upon Iruel and Dumah. Somebody screamed further away and then everybody was running up the shore, away from the two Space Marines.

"Eggman's back!"

"Run!"

More screams as the people fled up the beach, toward a vast, sprawling city. It was nothing compared to most cities Iruel had seen on factory worlds, but it was still somewhat impressive.

Why do they flee from the Emperor's finest? Iruel thought. In his experience, the only humans who ever fled from a Space Marine were either confused, superstitious locals…or heretics.

Iruel was about to begin pursuit when he spotted a pair of…somethings huddling in fear along the tree line. One looked somewhat avian and was clearly female. She had bright purple and teal feathers and a long, curved beak the color of fresh oranges. Her partner was a male, and had a vaguely reptilian appearance, with bright green scales and a short, stubby tail poking out the back of bright red shorts.

"Mutants," Dumah said behind Iruel and started to raise his flamer.

"Hold, Brother," Iruel replied and approached the two cowering creatures.

"P-please…we don't want any trouble with Eggman," the reptilian one said.

"We do not serve this egg man. We are loyal servants to the God Emperor of mankind. What foul kind of mutant or xenos are you?" Iruel demanded. The bird creature was literally quaking in fear, unable to speak.

"W-we're just p-people," the reptile said. "We just came to the beach today for—"

"What is this place, mutant?" Iruel interrupted.

"It's the Emerald Coast. T-that's Station Square," the reptile said and gestured at the huge metropolis.

"On what planet?"

"P-planet?"

Iruel scowled and leveled his chainsword at the pair of creatures and the many wicked teeth snarled to life.

"Mobius! Mobius!" the pair of them responded at once. The bird was starting to cry.

"Dumah?" Iruel asked over one of his massive shoulders as he switched his sword off.

"Never heard of it," Dumah replied in what was probably the longest sentence he had constructed in weeks.

"What sector of the galaxy?" Iruel asked.

"I don't understand…"

"What part of the galaxy are we in? How far from Holy Terra? In what direction is the Eye of Terror? Malakh III? Fenris? Anything!" Iruel shouted and stepped forward. The bird let out a shrill cry and the reptile only managed a string of incoherent syllables. Iruel growled and turned his back on the two.

"Cleanse them," he said to Dumah.

"Yes," he replied, and raised his heavy flamer. There was a single gout of intense fire that belched from the end of the massive weapon, and the pair were immediately consumed. They both managed a single short scream before the flames devoured all the oxygen nearby, leaving the two making weak coughing sounds. Those didn't last very long.

In another few moments, the flame had diminished enough to reveal a pile of black ashes and several black, stick-like protrusions settled in the middle of a ring of glass.

"This isn't good," Iruel said. "Come, we should fetch Brother Zerachiel and check on the others."

Dumah stood over what remained of the mutants, xenos, whatever they were, and brought one heavy boot down on what might have been a skull. It broke as easily as the glass beneath it. Dumah turned to follow his sergeant back into the trees, leaving behind an empty beach and the smell of burnt flesh and feathers.

***

Tails had barely managed to fly behind a palm tree before one of those robot men looked up. These didn't look like Eggman's usual flunkies. They were bigger, meaner, and infinitely more dangerous in their appearance. Tails was used to strange, animal-shaped badniks, or awkward looking androids with too-large laser beams attached to their arms. But these things…

Two of them also looked like they might have been human once. The man in the black robes had mechanical appendages, and a metal face, but here and there Tails could just make out bits of exposed skin.

The one who gave orders, he had no helmet, and while some of his face was clearly mechanical, most of it still looked very human, if exceptionally hard and stern.

Of the other three, two were fitted in nearly identical hulking black armor, much like the leader, and one boxy, powerful looking mech. This last worried Tails the most, but thankfully, it didn't seem to be operating.

Tails had considered attacking the one called Zerachiel when the other two left, but something told him to keep quiet and to stay away. These strangers were not the usual fare he battled against. He had silently followed the other two, flying from tree top to tree top, stopping at the edge of the tree line as the two had approached a young couple.

His anxiety turned to terror when the one called Dumah had simply ignited the two innocents as if he were just lighting a campfire. He'd clamped his gloved hands over his mouth to keep from screaming as he watched dark, writhing shapes disintegrate within the flames. He stayed in the tree for several minutes after the two had left, shaking and crying.

This wasn't how Eggman did things. These people were something else. Something much, much worse. He had to tell Sally. They had to find Sonic. Maybe Knuckles. Choking back a sob and trying not to stare at the pathetic pile of remains, Tails alit from the palm and soared back towards Station Square as fast as he could.

***

"The energy signature has dissipated, Master," No. 53 said. "There are no residual emanations or signs of other similar anomalies anywhere on the planet our sensors can detect."

"Did any of the surveillance bots in the area pick anything up?" Eggman asked, leaning forward out of his chair, his rotund gut almost making him tip over.

"Negative."

"Damn!" Eggman shouted and slammed one fat fist down on a console with a sound like a slab of beef hitting the sidewalk.

"Master, while the surveillance drones did not pick up the anomaly itself, they did capture some footage not far from its point of origin," No. 53 continued and brought up a distant shot of the Emerald Coast. The section of the beach the drone was focused on got larger as it flew closer. Eggman could see crowds of civilians fleeing from something.

"What in the world?" Eggman breathed and leaned closer still. Two robot-like beings had appeared from the line of trees along the beach. One of them looked like a cyborg. The other could have been entirely mechanical or simply wearing armor. Eggman couldn't tell.

"Is there any audio?" Eggman snapped.

"Very little, sir. The drone's automated systems kept it at a minimum safe distance to avoid detection. Hence, there is only ambient noise from the ocean," No. 53 responded.

Eggman grumbled but continued to watch as the two machine men interrogated a pair of Mobians. After a minute or two, Eggman gasped as the fully-armored one burned the pair alive with an immensely powerful looking flame-thrower.

"What are they?" Eggman whispered. "Who are they?"

"The drone received five life signatures prior to the immolation of the two Mobians. I can confirm that both of the black-armored men are at least partially organic."

"Five?"

"Yes, Master. The two Mobians prior to their death, the two armored men, and a fifth in the tree."

"A bird? No…" Eggman muttered as the two men marched back into the trees, and he saw a familiar fox take off from its hiding position at the top of a palm and head back toward Station Square.

"Miles. Prower," Eggman grunted. "No. 53, I want you to contact engineering and have them set the engines to maximum output. We will rendezvous with what remains of my main fleet as soon as possible. No.24, send these images to our main base and have them checked against any known military forces on Mobius. Now!"

"Yes, Master," No. 53 responded. No. 24 was a tall, skinny model with a rather useless pair of wings on its back that had long ago lost its vocal functions. It clicked to itself and began to transmit.

Eggman leaned further forward to view the frozen image of the two strange men. "I will find out who you are, my strange, violent friends, and when I do…I'll—umph!" The last was cut short as gravity finally took hold of Eggman's pendulous stomach and he fell forward, flat on his face.

***

"This planet is unlike anything I've seen before," Iruel said as he and Dumah reentered the clearing where Zerachiel and the others waited. Toramech had managed to rouse himself from whatever stunned state he had been in, though Rolos was still out cold.

"So we don't even know where we are?" Zerachiel asked.

"No. Judging from the reaction of the natives, we be on a planet that is not part of the Imperium or any power. They have not even heard of His Name."

"How is that possible?"

"There are countless planets amongst the stars, little brother," Toramech said. "It would be foolish to assume even an empire as mighty as ours has explored them all. Some are currently hidden by warp storms, and others are simply adrift in the darkness alone."

"But to not even hear of the Adaptes Astartes, or the Emperor!"

"Well, that is one thing we will have to consider. For now we should find some place more secure to set up a temporary base. This is far too open, and after cleansing those…things on the beach, the inhabitants may send their forces to seek us out," Iruel said.

"We should avoid the city for now. There is no telling what lay inside of it," Toramech said.

"I agree. But everywhere along this beach is the same."

"When Toramech woke I went a ways in the other direction," Zerachiel said. "The beach continues for some way, but it eventually leads inland, to a jungle and a mountain range."

"Then that is where we will go. Lead on, brother," Iruel said.

They fell into line, with Dumah placing Rolos on top of Toramech until he came to. The five of them walked along the beach toward the distant mainland, away from the city. Their bulky, black figures and massive weapons seemed so out of place against the bright, serene beach.

Dumah looked back once over his shoulder to make sure Rolos hadn't fallen off when he saw a distant spec in the sky. He zoomed in on it with his bionic eyes and could just make out some kind of flying, furry xenos.

"Hmmph," Dumah grunted and then resumed following his sergeant. There would be time enough to deal with the inhabitants of this world, to enlighten the ignorant humans to His glorious existence, and to cleanse the rest.


	3. Ch 3: Scarlet on the Emerald Coast

**III.****Scarlet on the Emerald Coast**

The local police forces from Station Square were dispatched as soon as they received the report. A large squad of their best officers were deployed to the Emerald Coast within short order. The first news crews arrived not shortly thereafter, forcing the police to divide their attentions between keeping the reporters back and gathering evidence and searching the surrounding area. Several witnesses had returned and statements were taken, interviews were given. A few shaky, blurry photographs taken by a tourist made the TV networks within an hour. The names of the two victims had not been released yet.

The horror on the Emerald Coast spread almost as fast by word of mouth as it did over the networks and radios and the web. Police told their wives and husbands when they returned home, and they told their friends and neighbors, and so on, until all of Station Square was in a frantic uproar.

All this panic, fear, and outrage made its way to the heart of Station Square: City Hall and the Mayor.

His Honor Oswald Huffering was sweating heavily in his large high-backed chair and panting like a dog in the summer. Behind his back, some of his staff referred to him as "Old Huffer," a reference to his name and the deep gasps for air he would make on those unfortunate occasions when the elevator was inoperable and he had to take the stairs. Or if he had to walk down the hall. Any time he had to walk, really. He blamed it on the city pollution, though everybody knew it had more to do with his constant diet of pastries and variations of glazed ham.

He was stuffed into a suit that would have been too tight for him if he were twenty pounds lighter, his bald head gleaming under the humming lights of his office. He mopped at it with a silk handkerchief and then smoothed his bristly white mustache with it.

"This is insane! Not even a week ago, the entire city was celebrating their tiny brains out. Eggman was gone, Sonic was our hero, and tourism was already climbing back up. Now this?! I can't believe it's that mad scientist again. He normally takes at least several months before he tries anything again," Huffering said and took a deep breath before he continued.

"And they're blaming me! As if had some clairvoyant foresight into this sort of thing. It's madness, Ms. Links."

Huffering sopped up the sweat from his wide brow as he looked across the expanse of his desk as his assistant, Josie Links. She had the appearance of some kind of wild cat, with snowy white fur and black spots along her cheeks and tail and sharp tufts on her pointed ears. A pair of horn-rimmed glasses sat perched on her snout, behind which a pair of amber eyes watched the mayor with their usual detached stare. Unlike her portly employer, Links was quite trim, and filled out her dress suit quite nicely (though any stated appreciation for her figure was kept to a minimum as she had a reputation of being able to silently appear behind any lewd commentators and have them hauled away).

"It's not your fault, sir," she said. "Besides, the Captain at the police department said he thinks this may not be related to Eggman at all."

"Not Eggman? I don't know if that's good news or not. I think I'd rather have the evil I know over the evil I don't," Huffering sighed as he leaned back in his chair to look out at the city skyline. "Is there any word on Sonic's location yet?"

"I notified Princess Sally when I heard the news. She has no idea where he is, just that he was chasing after Eggman after his most recent retreat. She's currently at his home watching over Miles Prower. He seemed…especially distraught, after witnessing the homicides."

"That little fox? Poor lad."

"Mm. Would you like me to prepare another press statement sir?"

"No. One for today is already quite enough. Telling them anything else when we don't have anything solid will just rile them up again."

"As you wish sir," Links said and made a note to herself. "What would you like to do then?"

"Get piss drunk and go to bed," Huffering sulked. Links made a note.

"And after that, sir?"

"I suppose I will need to get the Captain's report and any other pertinent information from the case that the police are willing to release to the press."

"Shall I get you the Captain then sir?"

"And some vodka, please," Huffering said.

"Sir," Links said and stepped out of his office. Alone, Huffering continued to look out at his city, and not for the first time, wished it was somebody else's.

* * *

Sally sat at end of Tails's bed, stroking the fox's fur as he slept. He had stopped crying some time ago, but the streaks were still visible beneath his eyes. It had taken her a while to convince him to lie down, but once he had, he was out.

"Tails…" Sally whispered and frowned. She hadn't been able to figure out what he had been trying to tell her earlier that day. He was rambling, gasping, and when he finally did get it out, she had wished he hadn't.

Sally gave Tails a last pet behind the ear and then walked into the living room that he and Sonic shared in their expansive apartment. It was more like a small penthouse, a gift from the mayor years ago after beating back Eggman's attempted assault with his airship fleet.

She sat down on the couch and watched the news reports streaming in. Slick graphics that shouted "Eggman back again?!" and "Terror on the Coast" flashed by as the talking heads each spouted at their theories and reiterated what others had said before.

"It's not Eggman," Sally muttered to herself. It wasn't his style. Eggman was about the spectacle as much as he was about his ultimate goal. Everything he made was big and flashy, every plan he hatched was overblown and extravagant. Sally had gotten NICOLE to download some of the photos from the net. What disturbed her though was the video NICOLE had picked up over the airwaves. It was a transmission sent hours ago, at exactly the time of the attack, from an unknown camera set somewhere out in the water.

The video had shown cyborgs, hulking, grim, constructs. They had appeared to be questioning the two poor Mobians before one of them ignited the pair. It was quick, efficient, and merciless. No gusto, no flare, just two quick kills, and the pair had vanished back into the tree line.

And while she had no proof, Sally was certain who the mysterious camera belonged to. If it had been a civilian, they would have tried to cash in with the news crews or reported to the police. If it was the police or the city filming, it would have shown up when NICOLE scanned their data bases. But it hadn't.

And she could only think of one person who might place a camera hovering above the sea that would want to keep to himself. Eggman.

"But he's always on the ground floor of his own plans," Sally said to herself. He was always near at hand with every scheme he carried out. He wasn't one to idly sit far away while his "genius" plans came to fruition.

"But who then?" Sally asked herself, though NICOLE decided to pipe up from her vest pocket.

"I cannot find any possible matches to any organization or faction these 'men' might belong to. The markings I can see on their armor do not match any flags, insignias, logos, or other markings used by any countries or corporations I am familiar with. This includes the forces of Eggman," NICOLE said in her soothing monotone.

"That's what worries me. If we knew who they were, why they're here, where they come from, anything, we'd have a leg up. But we don't," Sally grumbled.

"Shall I continue monitoring any transmissions relevant to today's assault?"

"Yes, thank you NICOLE," Sally said and leaned back into the soft couch, ignoring the news while NICOLE did her thing.

"Hurry back, Sonic. We need you."

* * *

The world's fastest living creature sat on a large, moss covered rock hundreds, maybe thousands of miles away from Station Square. He was munching on some berries he had found and wished they were chili dogs instead.

Sonic the hedgehog had taken off in pursuit after Eggman after his most recent, predictable attack on the citizens of Mobius. This meant that he hadn't had much time to pack a lunch or think ahead past anything except chasing the fat tub of lard across the planet.

Worse, he had lost the trail of Eggman's eggmobile a day ago. He had followed it for a long time, a long black scar of smoke streaked across the sky. But even as fast as he was, and as battered as Eggman's ship was, he hadn't been able to catch him. When a storm had moved in two days ago, Sonic had lost sight of the sky and Eggman's trail, and there was no spotting it now.

"Stupid fat jerk," Sonic said and kicked a pinecone into a small pond. He looked down at the berries which weren't really ripe yet anyhow, and were staining his nice white gloves to boot. A small female chipmunk clambered down from a nearby redwood and looked up at him expectantly.

"You know, you remind me of somebody I'd like to see," Sonic said and placed the berries on the ground for the tiny forest-dwelling rodent. He was already a mile away back the way he had come before the tiny animal had eaten one of the berries.

* * *

Emerald Coast was usually the place to be on a Saturday night. Tiki torches were almost always lit, any number of parties would be going on, but there were also plenty of quiet secluded coves for couples to enjoy.

But tonight, it was a tomb.

Yellow police tape blocked off the main entrances to the beach near Station Square, and the harsh flashing blue and red of cruiser lights replaced the normally soothing orange glow of the torches.

The captain had made a public appearance before the press that

afternoon to smooth feathers (sometimes literally) and put on a show that the SSPD was doing everything in its power to bring these awful servants of Eggman to justice. All the evidence had been collected and the detectives and CSI teams had vacated. All that remained were a few patrols combing the beach and making small searches into the tree line.

There were sixteen officers left, and a handful of grunts from the academy who were all waving their flashlights around rather uselessly. They had split up into groups of four or five to cover more ground while still being able to cover each other's backs.

"I hate this shit," one of the officers grumbled. He looked like a cliché: big in the middle, bald up top, thick mustache, heavy jowls. His tarnished nametag read "Wesson."

"You'd think they'd let us go now that the lab rats have cleaned up and the press has gone," said Wesson's partner, Hertz. He was about as different from his partner as he could be, which suited him fine. He was a short, lithe possum-like creature that spent as much time in the station's gym as he could.

"We gotta do this kinda thing like, every day at the Academy. I don't see why it's so bad," said one of the three academy recruits Wesson had been shouldered with. He hadn't bothered to learn their names. He'd just been calling them "recruits" all night.

"Because I ain't at the academy any more, dipshit," Wesson said. The recruit, properly cowed, shut his mouth and continued to wave his flashlight over the foliage.

"How far out we gonna go tonight Wes?" Hertz asked. "I think we've gone well past the limit the chief asked us to."

Wesson looked up and cursed. He'd been so busy thinking about how much he hated this bullshit duty that he hadn't been paying attention. They were miles away from the entrance to Station Square, well beyond the search area. He could barely make out the distant beams of light and the flashes of sirens.

"Well, hell…" Wesson grumbled. "Don't let anybody say we didn't go above and beyond I guess. C'mon, we should head back. Hey recruits! C'mon!"

Two of the recruits hustled over to Wesson's side, looking very relieved. Wesson waited for a moment before shouting again for the third recruit.

"Where'd your little buddy go off to?" he demanded of the first one.

"Oh uh, he said he had to take a leak, sir," the recruit said and flinched under Wesson's glare.

"Well go tell him to shake it off and zip it up! I wanna get outta here sometime tonight!"

"Yessir!" the recruit said and dashed back into the tree line. Wesson jerked his thumb at the other recruit to indicate he should move his ass as well, and the boy took off at a jog.

"You could be a little nicer, Wes," Hertz said when they were alone.

"Yeah I could be," Wesson said in a tone that indicated he most certainly wouldn't. Hertz sighed and ignored his partner, instead looking out over the vast sea. He listened to the waves slide up over the sand, the almost silent hissing of millions of tiny bubbles popping in the surf, then receding with the waves. He'd never been here at night before. He'd have to bring his girlfriend when it was safe again.

"The hell's taking them so long?" Wesson mumbled. He hated the sea. It stank and made him sweat too much.

"Maybe they got lost?"

"Damn stupid kids. Let's go get 'em," Wesson said and began to march into the tree line, waving his light around and shouting for the recruits. Hertz kept a few yards to Wesson's right, moving his light from side to side but keeping quiet. They had gone perhaps a few dozen yards in when Hertz almost tripped on a log.

"Ah…dumb thin—" Hertz began and stopped as he looked down. It was one of the recruits. His head had been twisted completely around in a full 360 degree turn, ripping most of the skin off his neck and snapping his vertebrae to pieces. The boy's mouth was agape in a silent wail and his eyes were glassy and white and staring.

"WES!" Hertz yelled and stepped back, tripping over his own feet this time.

"What? Don't tell me you're getting the heebie jeebies Hertz," Wesson said as he began to stroll idly over. Hertz was about to add that he'd found one of the recruits when he heard a dull thump ahead of him in the darkness. A moment later a pair of glowing red eyes appeared in the gloom, eight, maybe even nine feet above the ground. Their owner stepped out and Hertz's breath caught in his throat.

"Daemonspawn," the man in the black metal armor said. He held some kind of enormous gun in one hand, the barrels of which glowed like a furnace. The other hand, some kind of robotic appendage, was coated in blood.

"Good god," Wesson muttered as he came upon his partner and the walking nightmare that faced him. He spotted the dead recruit on the ground and then turned and fled. Hertz had just enough sense left to be pissed at the fat bastard for abandoning him before the hulking brute picked him up with its one free hand.

"Grrk," Hertz gasped. The man/machine was clutching him around the middle, his hand so enormous that his fingers almost touched his palm, completely encircling the possum's torso.

"Deal with that abomination, Brother Dumah," another voice said from Hertz's side. "I will go for the heretic. He cannot escape judgment simply by running."

The second man/machine, this one with a face that seemed at least partially organic, sped off after Wesson, showing a truly terrifying speed for something of such enormous mass.

Hertz reached down at his waist and jerked out his sidearm while the one holding him was distracted by the second man. He just managed to free his arm enough to let him aim directly at his captor's face. Hertz bellowed and emptied the entire clip of his pistol not even a foot away from the man's helmet.

Hertz felt a single second of relief when the man's hand began to loosen, then disbelief as it tightened. The red eyes glowed bright and Hertz had the distinct impression that the mutilated face behind the helmet was smiling. There wasn't a single dent in that helmet. Nothing.

"Good try," the man said and then squeezed Hertz like a tube of toothpaste.

* * *

Wesson ran for his life, just breaking the tree line and spinning around as he heard the sound of pursuit. He jerked his pistol from its holster and fired blindly into the darkness, screaming as he did. The rampaging juggernaut that emerged from the jungle didn't slow one iota as the bullets made weak pinging noises against his armor.

Wesson fell onto his sizable ass and began scooting backwards into the sea as the monster approached him.

"Why does a human fight alongside these xenos?" the towering figure demanded.

"I-I-I…" Wesson stammered.

"You are a disgrace to humanity, a blight on mankind's legacy. You are traitor and heretic, mutant-sympathizer and inhuman-supporter. Tell me why you have turned against the Glorious Emperor and I might make your death a quick one."

"I don't understand. Wh-what—who are you? What do you want?" Wesson mewled, tears and snot getting caught in his mustache.

"I am _Adaptes Astartes_, the fist of his His Excellency, the unrelenting, uncrushable will of mankind. I am Sargeant Iruel of the Iron Hand, loyal servants to the Divine Imperium. And what I want is for all that is unclean in His Sight to be cleansed, all that is offensive to His Ears to be made silent, and all that is against His Voice and His Will to be rendered asunder.

"And that, little cowering heretic, means you."

"I honestly don't know anything! Are you Eggman's troops? I don't…is he an emperor now? Please…please…please…" Wesson begged and felt a spreading warmth in his trousers.

"Enough. I cannot force myself to speak to one such as you any longer. This is a better death than you deserve, traitor," Iruel said, and pressed the button on his chainsword.

Perhaps it was a mercy that Wesson didn't know what was happening in his final moments. He heard the roar of some great, mechanical beast, saw the moonlight glint off hundreds of whirring metal fangs, and then he felt something…curious. He suddenly felt so light, and things were spinning. The sky and the sand were whirling around him and then he landed several feet away in the waves.

He blinked twice and saw the huge man (if it could be called a man) looking down at something. It was Wesson's body. It looked shorter to Wesson for some reason, and thick gouts of scarlet fluid were dribbling from the top of it into the sea.

_Did he cut off my head?_ Wesson thought. _If he did, would I still be able to see? Am I still alive? What happened?_

And so it was with confusion, and not fear, that Officer Wesson drifted away with tides.

* * *

The bodies were found early the next morning when officers Wesson and Hertz failed to report in, and the three academy recruits were found to be missing as well.

Wesson's body was found on the beach, the head missing, his blood staining the sand despite the ocean's best efforts to take it away. Hertz was discovered several dozen yards into the jungle, his body crushed by some great force, his insides forced out of his mouth and backside. The three recruits were discovered a shorter distance in, one with a broken neck, the other two with crushed skulls.

A search was made during the daylight hours, but nobody stayed to search again that night, and the Emerald Coast remained silent.


	4. Ch 4: Unwelcome News

**IV. Unwelcome News **

Engineseer Rolos awoke on their third day on the strange planet. His twin bionic eyes flared to life and his many mechanical limbs twitched and flexed as he sat up. Iruel was standing a short distance away, and allowed himself a rare smile as the priest stood up with metallic groans.

"I am glad to see you finally awake, Priest," Iruel said. "We were beginning to get concerned."

"I appee-ear-ear to be fine, Sergeant," Rolos said and began prodding at himself in various places. "Though I am curious-sshhh as to what happened to make me lose conshhh-usss-ousness."

"You don't remember anything then?"

"Only falling-ing-ing into that rift-tuh-tuh. Where are we?"

"We're in cave in a jungle on some unknown planet. Well, the locals call it Mobius, but I've never heard of it, and neither has Toramech," Iruel said. There does not appear to be any presence of Chaos, or any other form of xenos we are familiar with."

"That is guh-guh-good for us then-n-n."

"Perhaps not. There are xenos on this planet, though they are quite weak. However, there are also humans here and they appear to be co-existing with these…creatures."

"Hair-air-air-esy!" Rolos shouted, a hiss of static coming from his voice box at the sudden increase in volume.

"Indeed. However, this planet is well populated, and while not nearly as advanced as our own, their technology is a bit more than sticks and rocks. I have been thinking of a way to best assault the one major city we have seen so far."

"No nuh-nuh-need for rash strategieeezzzz, Sergeant. I will simply contru-tru-truct a beacon with which to summon our brethren-en," Rolos said and began to walk towards the mouth of the cave.

"I am not sure that is possible, Priest," Iruel said as he followed Rolos outside, pushing the curtain of ivy away from the cave's entrance as he did.

"Why not?" Rolos asked and stopped so suddenly that his legs squealed.

"From what little intelligence we have been able to gather, this planet is very secluded from the Imperium. It may be concealed within a warp storm, or simply be on the edge of the galaxy. Perhaps beyond even that," Iruel replied. Rolos was silent. "We have no psykers, no way of returning to Malakh III, and no way off this planet that we know of."

"So, we are only a handful or marines on a plan-an-anet full of xenos and heretics, and no immediate way-a-a-ay of contacting our main for-or-orces."

"Exactly so."

"And what do you intend to do then, Sergeant? Hide in this cave?" Rolos asked.

"Careful, Priest. I have great respect for your order, but I will not take those sorts of statements against myself and my brothers lightly," Iruel snapped. Rolos bowed at the waist and waited for Iruel to continue. "We will take that city. The one they call Station Square. And we will make them assist us, or by the Emperor, I will show them the power of a 'handful' of marines."

* * *

Eggman felt a little thrill move through his vast body as he stepped onto the main bridge of his current flagship: Egg Force One, or simply EF1. His actual flagship (and over half his air fleet) had been destroyed by that wretched hedgehog and his irksome friends during Eggman's last attempted assault. Everything here was all of his latest invention, not like that rundown bucket he had used to get here. He had allowed No. 53 to follow him, as the robot had proven himself mildly useful so far.

"We are en route back to Station Square, Master," one of his newest model swatbots said, its red visor gleaming. Eggman threw a wrench at it.

"Ow, Master."

"Idiot! Did you not read the coordinate I sent you? I want our destination fifty miles south-southwest of the city! If we simply show up again so soon, Sonic and his friends will just decimate us again! That's why I picked this vessel, for its diminutive size!"

"Apologies, Master. I will alter our course at once," the swatbot said and began making corrections. Eggman grumbled to himself. This was still hardly ideal. He wished he had more time to return to Robotropolis and get better prepared…but those cyborgs, he'd never seen anything like them.

He was the most brilliant mind on Mobius. Nobody could yet come close to duplicating his technology…so where had those mechanical soldiers come from? Who had sent them?

He had to find out immediately, if these new cybernetic terrors were a force he could work with…or something he must fight against.

* * *

Zerachiel had only been a fully indoctrinated member of the Iron Hands for a standard year. He'd spent much of that time on the mobile fortresses of his home world. His first mission into space had been to a small outpost on a distant moon. He and a handful of other Hands had been sent to inspect what appeared to be an abandoned Imperial Guard station. They'd found nothing but corpses and then, tyranids.

Zerachiel knew it was not in a marine's nature to know fear, but those creatures had unnerved him. Still, when he had put a series of bolter rounds in some sprinting horror, his blood had surged and he'd felt both of his hearts beat such a rapid tempo he thought they might burst through his carapace. When it was finished, he had wanted more.

This planet though…it was too simple. He delighted in the idea of bringing justice and enlightenment to xenos and heretics alike, but the ones that populated this world seemed so…weak. Hardly worth the attention of the Adaptes Astartes. He did not feel that there was any glory here.

"You seem distracted, Brother," Toramech said a short distance behind him. Zerachiel sighed and turned from his position on the rock outcropping overlooking the coastline and the distant metropolis.

"I know it is our duty to root out heresy and to clear whatever xenos or mutants we might find…but so far…I don't know," Zerachiel trailed off.

"You dispatched one of the heretical humans last night, correct?" Toramech asked and swiveled his upper torso to better face the young marine. Zerachiel nodded. "And he was easy to defeat, yes?"

"Too easy. He never stood a chance."

"Do you know why that is, Brother?"

"Because I am a Space Marine."

"Because you are a Space Marine. There is no other force in the galaxy that we cannot defeat. I have seen hundreds of years of battle. I have seen the Eldar fail to foresee their own demise on the battlefield, the undying Necrons crushed to nothing beneath a terminator's heel, and even Chaos, for all their promises of eternal power, could not stand against our might.

"It is too easy because we are the Hand of the Emperor. Nothing can stand against us."

"I know that sir, but…there is at least honor and glory and…challenge in fighting those others. These things are too soft," Zerachiel said.

"We have only seen a small percentage of their forces, Brother. Of the eight we have dispatched thus far, only two have been armed, and very lightly at that. It is foolish to underestimate your enemy before you see their true strength," Toramech said. "Which means you should get back to observation. I will return to the sergeant and check up on our priest."

"Yes sir, thank you," Zerachiel said and bowed to the venerable dreadnought. The great walking tomb made heavy thumping noises as it returned to the jungle, leaving Zerachiel alone to watch the distant city through a pair of binoculars, hoping to find some sign of strength.

* * *

Dumah had left his heavy flamer back at the cave. His current mission was about observing, not engaging (as much as he loathed the former and reveled in the latter). He had spent all day moving through the trees, back towards the beach they had first appeared at and the city beyond it.

He was not made for stealth. His heavy armor and cybernetic enhancements didn't make for the lightest of steps, but thankfully he hadn't encountered anybody yet. He eventually came to the place of their arrival to this world: the small copse of trees directly beside the beach.

The local authorities had placed yellow tape around the area, marking it off to civilians. Other than that, there was nothing new. Dumah moved on, staying away from the open beach.

It was another several miles until the trees stopped and gave way to empty sand and a long road that led to the city. Dumah stopped just before his cover ended and hunkered down low.

At the edge of the beach, in a dirt parking lot, two authoritarian vehicles were parked. They were painted white and black, and had numerals on their sides as well as red and blue lights on their roofs. Dumah snorted. They had no treads or other means of proper propulsion, just thin, flimsy tires. They had no armor, and most shocking, not a single armament. These people were shameful.

Several men, dressed like the enforcers Dumah had killed last night, milled around the lot. With his enhance hearing and mechanical endowments, Dumah could easily hear their conversations.

"—an't believe Hertz is gone. He was one tough little bastard. And those recruits, what a waste," said one of the officers: a non-human that looked like some kind of brown-furred dog. Dumah found himself reaching for his bolter and had to stop himself.

"They got Wesson too," said the other, a lanky human with copper hair and pale skin. A heretic. Any decent citizen of the Imperium would have either attacked the wretched xenos creature on the spot, or called for a guardsman to exterminate it. These people must be taught properly.

"Wesson was a fat, lazy slob," the xenos said.

"Whoa, hey. Don't hold back now. Tell me how you really feel," the heretic replied. "Geez Sam, the man's dead. Yeah he was a jerk, but you can show a little respect."

"Dying didn't make him any less of a disgrace to the badge, Gary. I'll bet it was Wesson that led the rest of our guys out so deep anyways. He deserved what he got. The others didn't," the xenos, Sam, said and turned to look out toward the jungle. Dumah squatted down lower.

"You might have a point there," the other, Gary, added. "So what's the word from on high?"

"The captain wants to send SWAT into the jungle, maybe get some help from the Mobotropolis army, if Princess Sally will give it the green light. Some of the Freedom Fighters are still active, and they've already said that they're in. Nobody knows the wilderness like those guys."

"That should be enough for anything. I don't care how strong these new robots Eggman made are."

"…You did hear about what they found near Hertz's body, right?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, his guts. Thanks for reminding me," Sam said and shivered.

"Besides that. Bullets. Lots of them. He fired at point blank range and they were all flat as pancakes, as if they'd hit some impervious wall."

"Those thing are robots. They're made of metal! Of course normal bullets aren't going to do much."

"I'm still worried. This feels different," Sam said and crossed his arms.

"Yeah," Gary agreed. "So when is SWAT going in?"

"When the Freedom Fighters show up. They'll probably wait for Sonic too. Now, with him, I don't need to worry. That hedgehog could take on anything. Especially if he decides to use that Chaos Emerald they got locked up in the vault downtown."

Dumah's blood and synthetic fluids froze in his veins.

Chaos.

Their taint was here. These people used it, held onto it, even guarded it, apparently. Dumah had to silently recite a litany in his head to control his sudden surge of rage. He knew enough for now. They could not delay their assault on the city any longer now that they knew the forces of Chaos were at work here. Dumah slipped back into the shadows of the trees and made all haste back to Iruel and the cave.

* * *

"Sonic!" Sally shouted as she saw the savior of Mobius enter his apartment. It was almost noon, but she had been up all night doing research and had only just fallen asleep on the couch a few hours ago.

"Sal!" Sonic said as the princes hugged him. "What're you doing here? I figured you'd be back at Mobotropolis or Knothole by now."

"Idiot!" she said. "You just run off after Eggman and figure I'll just go home? Somebody has to help clean up after the mess you always leave behind, and I wasn't about to leave Tails alone."

"Oh. Hey yeah, where is my lil' buddy?" Sonic asked and began to walk towards his partner's room. Sally grabbed him by the arm and shook her head.

"No, he needs his sleep, and we need to talk," she said.

"Sal? What's going on?" Sonic asked. It wasn't unusual for Sally to be the serious voice of reason, but something in her tone offset him. She hadn't seemed this…tense since her father had disappeared years ago and most of Mobius's non-human residents had been driven to Knothole.

"Something happened while you were gone. Something very serious."

"Patience ain't one of my many virtues, Sal. Just spit it out already."

"Some…men, I don't know, appeared on the Emerald Coast recently, right after you left. They…they killed a couple of tourists on the beach, and NICOLE's gotten some information that several SSPD officers were killed last night," Sally said, her hads starting to shake.

"What? Oh…Sally," Sonic said and scowled. "Eggman."

"No, I don't think it's him. And there's something else. Amy Rose, she…" Sally started to say before her voice caught. Sonic stared at her, suddenly frozen.

"She what, Sal?"

"She's missing. I haven't said anything to Tails, but I'm fairly certain she-she's…"

"No. Uh-uhn, no way." Sally couldn't finish. She collapsed into sobs and Sonic caught her before she fell to the floor. They stayed that way for a while, kneeling on the floor together in the early afternoon light.

* * *

Toramech was the first to arrive back, followed shortly after by Zerachiel, and Dumah an hour or so later. Zerachiel seemed especially pleased to see the ancient priest up and about, but he was interrupted by Dumah as soon as he arrived.

"Chaos," Dumah said. All heads (or torsos, in Toramech's case) turned to face Dumah as the sudden silence allowed the enormity of that word to sink in.

"What?" Iruel said after a moment. "Chaos? Here?" Dumah nodded in response.

"But…I thought Chaos was supposed to corrupt and taint everything it touched," Zerachiel said. "This world is…almost pristine. It's so clear and natural."

Dumah took a small communication device from his belt and played back the voices of the two officers his helmet mic and audio sensors had picked up. All present in the cave froze at the words "Chaos Emerald."

"By His Imperial Majesty," Iruel breathed. "That settles it. If Chaos is here, we can delay no longer. Zerachiel, you will give us your report on what you have observed of the city. Priest, I know you just awoke, but we will need you to examine and properly bless our weapons and armor before we go into battle.

"Tomorrow, we attack."


	5. Ch 5: Assault on Station Square Part I

_Author's note: Thank you to everybody for the feedback! I really appreciate it. I'd just like to take a moment to address some folks' particular posts and share some silly shit._

_I haven't ever published anything big, like a book. Mainly a couple short stories in magazines, and some articles in literary or writing journals. I also had a series of webcomics years ago, but they weren't very good. I'd rather not give out my real name or the names of where I've been published because honestly, I'm a bit embarrassed to be writing fanfiction, even if it is just a way to keep the writing wheels greased for my "serious" projects._

_I appreciate the critical feedback that this seems like a "curb stomp." But if all I wanted to do was kill off Sonic and his buddies, I'd have them zapped off to the 40k universe, not have Marines get zapped to Mobius. I'm not saying the Marines are going to lose (honestly I don't know), but it's not going to be quite as easy as some of you seem to think. Marines aren't the only thing from 40k that are going to bleed over into Mobius, and don't forget the natural result of any side in a war escalating: the other side escalates as well, no matter what. Even if I do have the Marines trounce Mobius into a barren ball of dust, it isn't always the WHERE that the story goes, but HOW you get there that's the entertaining part._

_I bought Sonic Heroes from Gamestop for cheap a while back and uuuggghhh the voice acting in that game makes me want to maim, burn, and kill. I'm actually a fan of the old Sonic games, and the old Saturday morning cartoon, but the Archie comic and the current games and this "Sonic X" crap make me shudder. Damn furries. You know who you are._

_Random fact: I was listening to the O'Jays "Love Train" during the more violent scenes. Seemed appropriate._

**V. Assault on Station Square Part I**

Sonic sat in his room, looking out the window as morning came to Station Square. He hadn't been able to sleep. He had called the SSPD after Sally had told him about Amy's disappearance. The captain had told him footprints that had a blood type matching Amy's had been found near where the strange cyborgs had first appeared. Along with a thin, pink arm ending in a white gloved hand.

_I'm your number one fan, Sonic!_

_ Sonic, I swear I'm going to marry you someday!_

Her voice had banged around in his head in a cruel parody as he had felt the hand holding the phone go numb.

Sonic had slammed the phone down and retreated to his room where he had remained, motionless for the past several hours. He told Sally and she had trembled in his arms until she had fallen asleep in his bed. He had heard Tails leave sometime around three A.M. but hadn't tried to stop the little fox.

The sky outside was still tinged with night, the sun little more than a yellow smudge on the horizon. It seemed wrong that this day should come like any other before it, now that Amy was…gone.

Sonic came out of his stupor at the sound of a loud, but distant, explosion.

"Mpphhh…Sonic? Whuzzat?" Sally said as she sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"Trouble," Sonic said. He clenched his fists tight and felt the numb agony become quickly replace by white rage. He had no doubt Amy's killers were in Station Square, now. He was out the door by the time Sally had finished rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

* * *

Huffering had fallen asleep at his desk, a habit he had hoped he could lay to rest now that Eggman was gone. Alas, Ms. Links had insisted she stay and work the night, and he didn't feel right leaving while his right hand lady kept working. So he had compromised and had a few drinks in his office before passing out.

He almost jumped out of his chair when his office door slammed open sometime around sunrise. He sputtered something and brushed at a memo that was glued to his cheek by some drool.

"Sir!" somebody said. Ms. Links. Huffering winced as she spoke, his head pounding.

"What is it Ms. Links? And do try not to shout so loudly," he said, and then got a look at her. Ms. Links was wearing the same thing as last night, and she had a…disheveled appearance about her. Ms. Links was never disheveled. She was never even mussed. Something was very serious indeed.

"Sir, Station Square is under attack!" Ms. Links said, continuing to speak far too loudly.

"Eggman again? Ugh…call Sonic. I understand he's back now," Huffering replied and rubbed his temples.

"Yes, I mean, it's those…things! From the beach," Ms. Links said and took several deep breaths to compose herself. "Sir, a small group has attacked the southern edge of Station Square and are moving in our direction. The police were notified fifteen minutes ago when they began attacking, but so far they've broken every blockade. We must move."

"Oh…oh dear," Huffering said. "We should…we have to go." He stood up and immediately fell over. Ms. Links helped him up and began moving his toward the door. Huffering was already engaging in the heavy breathing that had earned him his nickname by the time he was in the hallway.

"I have called a helicopter for us. We have to get to the roof, sir."

"Stairs?" Huffering said and moaned. Ms. Links nodded and began to help him along. Far away, there was the thud of explosions.

* * *

One Hour Before the Assault

"Here," Iruel said and pointed at the crude map he had drawn on the cave wall based on what Zerachiel had told him. "Our goal is to make it to the center of the city, to the tallest building. If nothing else, it will give us a better view of the metropolis and let us plan our next move. If we are lucky, we may be able to corner some form of authoritarian figure or planetary governor.

"Normally I would say to deploy squads at a few entry points to thin their forces and create confusion, but since there are only four of us—"

"Five, Sargean-an-ant," Rolos said. He had finished chanting his litanies and blessings over their equipment some time ago.

"You would fight, Priest?" Iruel asked.

"For my Emperor and his cause, any-ee-ee-thing," Rolos said. "Besi-sy-sy-ides, I may need to conduct some fiel-eel-eel-ield re-eh-eh-pairs."

"Very well. The Iron Hands will be honored to have you with them," Iruel said before continuing, "Since there are five of us, I think it better to concentrate our forces into a single squad."

"Mm," Dumah said and nodded.

"Unfortunately, we are not in a position to gather proper intelligence. We cannot get close to the city without being spotted by somebody I'm sure. That means looking for a stealthy entrance to the city center would be fruitless as we wouldn't know where to begin searching." Iruel pointed to a scribbled mass he had marked as the jungle, misshapen forms that indicated the various islands on the beach, and a large square which was the city itself.

"So since stealth is out, we will commit ourselves to a direct assault. We will rely on our speed, firepower, and the element of surprise. While I'm sure there are many heretical dens and xenos spawning grounds, we cannot afford to be sidetracked today. Our goal is the central building, top floor.

"From there we can make our next decision, and as it is the highest ground in the city, defend it easily until we formulate our next step. Are there any questions?"

"Sergeant," Zerachiel said and inclined his head. "I apologize for not being able to gather better information for you…"

"You did the best you could in accordance with my orders, Brother. Do not trouble yourself over it," Iruel replied.

"As you say, but…if we are overwhelmed? What then?"

"It is the nature of our duty to always be outnumbered, Brother. We will stand against them to the last, and if we are to die in His Name this day, then we will drag as many heretics and mutant and xenos scum with us as we can, so that even these ignorant disgraces will fear His Wrath and know the power of the Adaptes Astartes."

"Y-yes sir," Zerachiel said, his hearts suddenly pumping ferociously within him, his feet itching to be off right this second and smite for his Emperor.

"Well said, Sergeant," Toramech said and clenched his power claw in approval.

"Priest," Iruel said and turned to Rolos. "Will you be so kind as to lead us in a prayer before we begin our assault?"

"Of c-kuh-kuh-kuh-ourse," Rolos replied. He lifted the heavy tome chained to the side of his belt and opened it to a page about the perfection of the carapace, and how even it paled in comparison to the protection of His Imperial Majesty.

* * *

Twenty Minutes Before the Assault

It was just a little after five in the morning. Most of Station Square was still asleep. Only the most eager of salarymen or those coming back from the graveyard shift were out and about. The streets were empty save for the occasional early commuter or stray cat. Every intersection and highway, every corner, crosswalk, and sidewalk was vacant. The distant echo of the sea along Emerald Coast could just barely be heard, and the wind was a whisper between alleys.

The city held its breath, and waited.

* * *

Ten Minutes Before the Assault

Toramech stepped out of the jungle and began to march toward the city, across the beach. Iruel and Dumah flanked him, with Zerachiel and Rolos bringing up the rear. The techpriests many mechanical limbs stretched and flexed, the power saw at the end of one limb starting to hum with hungry energy. Cutting torches and lasers flashed on, grasping claws clanked together, and the electoos embedded in what remained of his skin began to crackle with deadly blue light.

The barrels of Dumah's heavy flamer glowed like the inside of a dragon's throat, and his finger squeezed the outer trigger guard tight. Zerachiel had only a single bolter, but the wind seemed to howl inside its almost tunnel-like barrel, and the extra clips at his waist bristled with the heavy bolter rounds.

Iruel held his chainsword, leaving his bolter holstered for now. The deadly melee weapon was currently off, and the teeth of the blade seemed eager to begin their deadly movement. Toramech's twin lascannons were online and a dull, constant hum could be heard from them. The ground began to crack under his mighty tread as they left the beach and came to the paved road leading toward the city.

* * *

Three Minutes Before the Assault

Nobody was around to even notice the Marines during their walk towards the city limits. This was partly due to the hour, and to the dread the citizens still held toward the Emerald Coast after the murders. Iruel and his squad had just about come into the city itself when all of their augmented eyes spotted a distant vehicle approaching.

None of them paused or broke stride, but continued along with Toramech's steady, deliberate pace.

* * *

One Minute Before the Assault

Officer Grumbleton was a bear of a cop, quite literally. He wore only the blue hat and short-sleeved officer's shirt that was required of him, the rest of his body covered in thick brown fur. He hummed to himself as he drove along in his squad car, taking the exit ramp off the freeway towards the road that led to the Emerald Coast. It was his turn to stand guard at the coast's edge. He had left a little earlier than normal to ensure he could get the first batch of fresh doughnuts from the shop near his tiny home.

Most times he enjoyed his job of patrolling and munching, and only ever regretted his eating habits when getting in or out of his car, when his ample stomach would hinder him. Grumbleton made a left onto the road that was a straight shot to the coast, palms lining the sides all the way to the beach.

Grumbleton squinted as he saw several distant, but large figures in the distance, walking up the middle of the road.

"Weird," he muttered and slowed down. He was still several hundred feet away when the distant figures came into focus and the officer felt every one of his hairs stand on end. "Oh geez."

It was _them_. Those killer robot things that had made mincemeat of Wesson, Hertz, and those recruits. He had heard somebody whispering that they had even killed sweet little Amy Rose. They'd torn Grumbleton's fellow officers apart like toys, burned innocent civilians alive. He didn't have any doubt about what they'd do to him. And what else was that they had? It looked like…a walking tank, and something else, a man with cybernetic spider legs coming from his back clad in black robes.

Grumbleton had gotten into scuffles with more than a few armed crooks. He'd even had it out with some of Eggman's creations, but this was…this was worse. Looking at the five black figures marching up the road was like staring at something worse than Death itself. They seemed inevitable, unstoppable, walking monoliths of destruction and war.

Grumbleton slammed on the brakes as he made a frantic U-turn. He flicked the sirens on and grabbed at his radio, fumbling with it for a precious few seconds. He glanced into his rearview mirror and saw one of the figures lift its arm casually.

"Dispatch! This is car 54, I have spotted the mechanical suspects approaching Station Square via the road to Emerald Coast! Request immediate back up! Request—"

* * *

Now

"It is one of the authoritarian figures Brother Dumah saw yesterday," Iruel observed as he saw the black and white markings. The vehicle came to a skidding halt and spun around when it came too close, and the lights on its roof began to flash and a loud blaring noise emitted from it.

"How useless," Iruel observed. "Very well, let's begin. Zerachiel, eliminate that target."

"Yes Sergeant," Zerachiel said. He raised his arm and squeezed off a round. The vehicle jumped forward as if it had been struck by a battering ram, and exploded a split second later. It became a great fireball, its doors blowing outwards as an orb of flame ripped the frame apart and sent the single occupant through the roof and into the air. He landed with a heavy, flat thud as pieces of his car rained down around him.

Iruel smelled burning hair and glanced at the charred figure. Another xenos, judging by its deformed and unholy shape. He stepped past the body and the wreckage, following Toramech towards the heart of the city as the dying boom of the explosion echoed around the city.

* * *

Grumbleton's last message was received by the SSPD dispatch. The operators on duty gave each other frightened glances as it was cut off, and then did their jobs.

SWAT units were assembled in record time. Every officer on duty was directed to the coastal off-ramp, and calls were placed to every officer currently off duty. Helicopters were launched, armored transports were filled, and every able-bodied officer began to converge to the same location.

Sonic the Hedgehog had just emerged from his apartment building when a cruiser sped by. He scowled and grit his teeth.

"Time to juice it," he said, and took off, leaving a trail of fire behind him.

* * *

"Brothers! Attack!" Iruel said as several squad cars came into view. Iruel, Dumah, and Zerachiel fanned out to the sides of Toramech, keeping him in the center of the road. Rolos stayed behind the dreadnought, as he did not possess any armor at all, and wouldn't be of much use at long range.

Zerachiel rushed forward, firing his bolt rifle in short bursts. Two cars immediately detonated and were thrown into the air like cheap plastic models. One car swerved hard to the side and avoided being hit. Its engine revved and it sped towards Dumah. He moved his heavy flamer to one side and rushed towards the car, leaning forward and putting his shoulder down so the large pauldron on it acted as a shield.

Dumah rammed head on into the police cruiser and allowed himself a rare smile within his helmet as the vehicle crumpled against him. He was put off balance some, but not much. He used his free hand to punch through the ruined hood of the car, his bionic fist knocking the engine block right out of the car and onto the street.

Airbags deployed within the vehicle, cushioning the two occupants inside. Dumah stomped his foot down on what remained of the hood, making the car tip forward, its rear tires lifting off the ground. He could hear the two officers screaming inside. One of them fired several rounds from his pistol through the windshield. Dumah raised his heavy flamer and let out a half second burst, instantly roasting the officers. He let the car drop back down, then kicked it onto its side.

Toramech hadn't yet done anything except shield Rolos. This was fine with him, as his power claw was for close range only, and shooting at the toy-like vehicles would've been massive overkill (not that he minded massive overkill, he just wanted a worthier opponent to unleash his weapons upon).

The other police cars had managed to make a retreat to around the corners, where the officers within were frantically screaming for backup, SWAT, air support, the local military forces, tanks, anything and everything.

So far, the Marines' assault had been about thirty seconds.

* * *

Sonic ran through the city at about medium speed. He would've liked to have cut loose, but with so many buildings and sharp corners, he couldn't really open up. He zipped past patrol cars , underneath speeding helicopters, around tanks and troop transports until the sounds of explosions became clearer. It took him a few precious moments to pin down the source of the fight, but the rising smoke helped. Sonic made a last turn onto a road that led straight out to the Emerald Coast.

He saw four, no five machines walking up the street, and paused.

_Five badniks are causing this much trouble?_ Sonic thought. _The way Sal was talking I figured there must be a whole gang of them in the jungle. _

The figures were imposing, certainly, but Sonic had faced much larger mechanical horrors. The only one that seemed really threatening was the large, bulky mecha with the cannons on its side. It was slow, however, and Sonic scoffed. Still…the ruined police cruisers around him and the remains of bodies meant these things were serious, and probably more heavily armed than the usual badnik.

"This is for you, Amy," Sonic said and revved up hard and fast. The street had actually begun to turn back into tar from the heat by the time he launched himself at one of the "men", holding a large, growling sword of some kind. Sonic curled up into a tight ball, his blue quills bristling and humming with deadly speed.

Sonic expected to feel the familiar give of metal, a small explosion of circuits and gears, and the satisfying boom of one of Eggman's creations being destroyed by his dash attack.

Instead, he felt something hard and immovable, some material that his spines didn't even scratch. Though he was travelling absurdly fast, his brain was working at a similar pace. He had just enough presence of mind to shift his angle so he deflected himself off that unbreakable material and to the side. If he hadn't he likely would have been flattened by his own speed.

Sonic came out of his spin, rubbing his head where it had brushed against the armor plating, and stood to the side of and slightly behind the man with the exposed face.

_He must have been partially roboticized by Eggman!_ Sonic thought. The man stopped his forward march and looked at Sonic with a mechanical eye, blood red. A circular metal lens made the iris of the eye shrink, then expanded as the man studied Sonic.

Without a word he lifted a wide, squat gun and fired a single round. It made a loud DAKKA! Noise and Sonic was instantly out of the way. The bullet made a large crater in the street where Sonic had been a second before. The man registered some surprise and looked at the blue hedgehog more closely.

"You're gonna have to be quicker than that if you wanna shoot me bucket brains!" Sonic said. "Hasn't Eggman learn—AAGH!" Sonic dodged to the side again as he dodged another explosive round. _That gun is like an armor piercing grenade launcher!_ He thought.

"Cowardly xenos," the man said and swung his buzzing sword towards Sonic. The hedgehog gasped and flipped backwards. The man wasn't nearly as quick as Sonic, not by a mile, but for his size, his speed was unreal. The sword buzzed like a chainsaw and gnawed at the air.

Sonic growled and leapt up, then sent himself buzzing right toward the man's exposed head. Sonic hit the exposed skin area as he intended and was reward with the feeling of his spines sinking into skin. He didn't normally relish close, fleshy combat like this, but these bastards had killed Amy, and innocents.

"Mrr!" the man grunted and grabbed at Sonic. He leapt nimbly to the side, shocked the man hadn't fallen over dead. Sonic gasped as he saw the damage. There was a large gash in the man's head, blood trickling down over his face. Blue quills were lodged all the way down into his skull, but the man was not only still conscious, he didn't even seem to mind.

"Is that all?" he said and lunged again.

"Aggh!" Sonic shouted as he barely avoided the blade this time. It actually managed to nick him on the stomach, one of those serrated teeth clipping a chunk of his flesh off as if he were made of nothing more substantial than butter.

"You are fast, creature," the man said. Sonic was aware of the other machine men continuing their march forward, destroying more police cars as they approached. However, he doubted he would fare any better against the others, and at least he was keeping this one from doing any other damage.

"Fastest thing alive metal head! So did you volunteer for Eggman's little procedure or what?" Sonic asked. The man ignored him and lunged again with his sword. Sonic dodged it again and smirked.

"That won't no matter how many times you try it!"

"Nor will your pathetic attack, xenos," the man replied and this time swung with the sword, then fired a round from his huge gun in the same direction Sonic jumped. Sonic's eyes were actually fast enough to see the bullet coming. It was enormous, tipped with something that looked like it could punch through a tank's hull. Sonic bent backwards and flipped, narrowly dodging the bullet.

"You…you're really not working for Eggman are you?" sonic asked, started to breathe heavy. He didn't stand still and wait for a response this time, but immediately ran behind the man's back and tried his spinning attack once more. The man _dodged_ it.

_No way!_ Sonic thought. _He's nowhere near fast as me! How could he dodge it? Unless he's figured me out already…_

"I do not know this egg man, but I only serve the Glorious Emperor of the Imperium," the man said and turned to face Sonic, but made no move to attack. "You are an interesting specimen. But xenos, nonetheless. You should stop running and die with honor."

"Homor! You want to tell me about honor! You killed a little girl, you monster! Her name was Amy!" Sonic shouted, losing his trademark cool. He was shaking now. The man paused for a moment and then nodded.

"Ah yes, the pink xenos that appeared on Malakh III. It was duty. Duty to the Emperor is honor. You are xenos, and I do not expect you to understand," he said and paused. "Toramech, now please."

Sonic looked quizzically at the man as he shifted to one side. Behind him was that bulky robot thing. It had turned its torso around to face Sonic. It had a large, double-barreled cannon on one of its sides, currently aimed at the hedgehog.

"Sure thing Jerkamech! Try your luck," Sonic said, trying to get his emotions back under control. He could doge the bullets from the man's gun at close range, and they were small. He could certainly dodge the shells from a cannon from down the street. Sonic looked at the twin barrels and blinked. There was a whitish light down in them, and Sonic realized that it did not fire shells.

A beam of pure white light shot out from Toramech's twin-linked lascannons, and were upon the hedgehog in an instant. Sonic screamed.


	6. Ch 6: Assault on Station Square Part II

V. Assault on Station Square Part II

The lascannon blast went the length of the road just as Sonic moved to the side. He could feel its immense heat and a curious sensation in his left arm. He turned and saw it in the midst of that deadly beam from the elbow down. When he landed to the side he stared at the burning stump where his forearm and hand had been previously. The beam had cauterized the wound, ensuring that he wasn't going to bleed out, but his lower arm and hand were just…gone. Not even ash remained.

He couldn't feel any pain, but it seemed like he could still feel his hand there, somewhere. What remained of his left arm was badly burned up to the shoulder, and places on his left side had blistered as well.

He acted on reflex rather than conscious thought when the big man fired his enormous gun at him again, skittering backwards and then falling over. He was off balance, his left side lighter now.

"You are a curiosity, xenos. I have seen none capable of dodging a blast from a lascannon. Not even an Eldar harlequin is nimble enough to simply leap aside," the man said.

"My arm…my arm…" Sonic muttered and grasped at the empty space below his left elbow with his remaining hand. The man raised his gun to finish Sonic off as shock began to set in when a tremendous boom rocked the street. The man turned to look, which gave Sonic the second he needed to regain his wits, and escape, leaving only dust behind him.

* * *

Some sort of flying machine had shown up, held aloft by rapidly rotating blades. Iruel scowled as he saw what were clearly soldiers of some sort leaning out of the hovering vehicle with some kind of missile firing weapon. They had been responsible for the explosion near Dumah. The marine had been knocked down, but nothing else. Iruel smirked as he saw Dumah take a microgrenade from his belt and lob it at the vehicle above him, which exploded and fell with a crash some distance away.

When Iruel turned back, the curious blue speedy creature was gone.

"Smarter than he looked," Iruel muttered, and turned his attention back to the matters at hand. He approached Dumah as he was stepping on some kind of xenos crawling out of the flaming wreckage. Zerachiel came over, followed by Toramech and Rolos.

"If this is the best they can muster, this'll be easy," Zerachiel said.

"Do not grow overconfident brother. This has only begun, and we still have some distance to go," Iruel replied and resumed marching into the city.

"I have a con-on-oncernnnn," Rolos said as they walked. They could hear sirens approaching in the distance, more than before.

"Speak your mind Priest, but make it quick. We are about to have more company," Iruel said.

"We-ee-eee do not have any extra muni-i-i-tionzzzz than what we curr-ur-urently hold. We cannot domin-in-inate a city with close quarter-er-rrrr weapons alone."

"Correct, Priest, but we do not seek to dominate this day, only to learn what our enemy is capable of, and to gain information. If we do expend our munitions, I trust in your ability to find a way to make us more."

"If I can fi-i-ind the proper-er-errr facility-t-t-ties, yes."

"Then we will concern ourselves with that when the time comes. For now," Iruel said and broke into a wide, savage grin. "We fight!"

An armored transport bearing the letters "SWAT" on the side rounded a corner, followed by several armored vans, and even a small tank.

"Better," Dumah said.

"Not enough," Toramech commented, and fired his lascannon again. The tank simply melted through the middle, becoming nothing but a slag pile of molten orange and white metal before it exploded. The armored vehicles skidded to a stop and their passengers jumped out: men and xenos in body armor, helmets with clear visors, and large, see-through shields as well as rifles of some kind. Iruel felt a little bad for them. Not much though.

"Fire!" one of the armored men shouted, and the line of officers, at least thirty of them, opened up a harsh salvo. Their guns rattled and burst, the odd tracer round burning a line in the air. Nearly every bullet struck the marines, but every one that did simply bounced off.

The marines marched on. Zerachiel fired another couple of rounds from his bolter at the officers. They tore through a few of their shields like tissue paper, drilled through their armor and bodies, and into the armored vehicles behind them. They exploded, knocking others aside like child's blocks, some of them set afire.

In light of Rolos's comment, Iruel waited until he was close enough to use his chainsword to engage the remaining forces. His blade split one in half at the waist, another from shoulder to hip, and a third simply lost his head, his body stumbling forward a few steps before collapsing.

"Fall back! Fall back men!" the lead officer shouted as he and the rest began to flee.

"Such cow-ow-ow-ardice," Rolos said as he moved forward with an eerie speed. He grabbed the lead officer by his arms with his large mechanical claws and pulled him close to his metal face. The officer, a human, was sweating and whimpering. "You shame-ame-ame humanit-ee-ee."

Another of Rolos's limbs came down and a long, thin drill extended and bored its way through the man's helmet and into his skull. The man's body jerked and twitched and then went limp.

Dumah had charged forward and manually dispatched the other fleeing officers with Zerachiel, simply chasing them down and bashing their heads in with their bionic fists. The street was littered with wreckage, bodies, and blood. Iruel could smell it: burning fuel, burning flesh, the bitter metallic tang of fresh blood. It was not quite the glorious battle he was hoping for, yet, but it would do for now.

And the marines marched on.

* * *

"Very…very impressive," Eggman muttered. By pushing his craft at full power, they had managed to set down not far from Station Square to catch the start of the assault. Eggman had the ship cloaked and had sent out numerous small observation cameras. They had shown him a very small but absurdly powerful force that had managed to chase the hedgehog off in minutes, and decimated a sizeable portion of the SSPD's forces.

"Years of trying to kill that hedgehog, do something to him, and they manage to fry one of his arms off just like that," Eggman said. "Their technology, it's not of this world, I'm sure of it."

"What makes you so certain, Master?" No. 53 asked.

"I would know about it. I control the most advanced tech on this entire planet. I design it and build it myself. I seriously doubt anybody else could match my brilliance, and if they could, I certainly would have noticed it by now."

"So what is your plan, Master?"

"We let them finish whatever is they intend to do in Station Square. Then, I will contact them and see if they are interested in a…partnership."

"And if they refuse?"

Eggman was silent. They had defeated Sonic so quickly, the SSPD was more of an inconvenience to them. If he brought all of the forces of Robotropolis down on them…maybe.

"Continue observation," Eggman replied, ignoring No. 53's question. For now at least he would let himself enjoy the simple pleasure of watching Station Square fall apart.

* * *

"_All civilians report to your designated shelters immediately. This is not a drill. All emergency and military personnel report to the central command location within your area. Remain calm. All civilians report to…_" the recording droned on over the city's PA system in a calm, feminine monotone.

Everywhere men, women, and children hustled down to their various shelters; beneath apartment buildings, parking garages, blocks in the financial district, stores downtown, and dozens of other places. Considering the frequency of Eggman's attacks, the shelters had become a necessary investment on the city's part.

This was not the first, or second, or third time the citizens of Station Square had suddenly been forced to drop everything and head underground, but even the dimmest of them noticed something was different.

Usually, during an Eggman attack, the roads were filled with debris from smashed badniks, and those that hadn't been destroyed could be heard clanking around corners. Tails could often be seen or heard in the air in his biplane, and it wasn't rare to catch sight of one of the Freedom Fighters. It was also fairly routine for Eggman to be broadcasting some absurd message over his own loudspeaker system. The security volunteers who helped escort the civilians to their shelters were always smiling and apologizing for the inconvenience, assuring everybody that the police and Sonic would handle things swiftly.

But today, there was none of that.

The streets were eerily empty, and the only sounds (aside from the drone of the PA system) were the distant echoing thuds of explosions and the steady rattle of gunfire. None of the Freedom Fighters were anywhere to be seen, and the security volunteers all had pinched, nervous expressions. They kept any conversation to a simple "Hurry along please, go immediately to your shelter. Do not leave until you are given the all clear," and so on. No Eggman taunting the city, no brightly colored, fantastic badniks shooting up banks or anything anybody was used to. An ambulance screamed by a line of people filing down into their shelter, and everybody stared at its dented and blood-spattered side. There were several holes in the vehicle that looked like they had been blown out with grenades.

"Keep moving folks, c'mon," a volunteer said and waved everybody onward. The people went, wondering what was happening to their city, and where their heroes were.

* * *

"For the Emperor!" Iruel bellowed. The pathetic inhabitants of this city had finally begun to show some real force. Tanks and armored troop vehicles met them at every corner. The men in the cloth blue uniforms with badges had gone entirely, replaced either by men armored somewhat like the Imperial Guard, and heavier troopers.

Toramech was in the lead again, crushing the asphalt with every step. Thousands of bullets from large caliber guns beat a metallic staccato against his nigh-impenetrable outer shell. A missile fired from a shoulder-mounted tube flew down the length of the street and detonated head-on against the dreadnought. It did not even dent him. Toramech returned fire with a lascannon blast that cut the air, a transport, and a line of men taking cover behind it.

"MORE!" Dumah shouted, the frenzy of battle getting to him. The enforcers of this planet had taken to coming in or attacking from above to get past Toramech's unstoppable defensive body. They would repel from the hovering flying vehicles, repel down from the sides of buildings, or shoot from rooftops. If any came within range of Dumah's heavy flamer, they were gone. Those that were out of range were picked off by Toramech's lascannon or Zerachiel's bolter.

Zerachiel and Iruel would often act as clean up, sticking to the rear with Rolos. The tech-priest muttered litanies and platitudes to the machine spirits as the marines marched. Zerachiel had gone through two clips for his bolter so far, but he had made every shot count. Iruel stuck to his chainsword, though it was rare anything got that close.

"Above!" Iruel shouted. One of the flying machines was descending rapidly, slightly off to the side. Iruel saw a large gun mounted on its side where men normally jumped out. It was black and had many barrels set in a circular pattern, and a long ammo belt fed into the main body of the weapon. It spun for a moment, and then emitted a harsh whine along with a storm of bullets.

It was aimed at Dumah, and the sheer velocity and number of the bullets pushed the marine back before he regained himself. His armor actually began to dent in places, and Dumah roared with what could have been rage or ecstasy.

The flying machine lowered itself as men jumped out the opposite side, while the gunner kept up the punishing stream of bullets. Dumah charged at the gunner, bringing his heavy flamer to bear. The soldiers who had dismounted from the vehicle each had the missile-firing shoulder-mounted weapons. There were seven men total: the gunner, five missile soldiers, and the pilot. One of the missile soldiers fired at Dumah along with the gunner, while the others all focused on Toramech.

"Dumah!" Zerachiel shouted as the missile struck him directly in his chest plate and exploded. Dumah was engulfed in fire and smoke. Toramech was encased in a similar inferno, but the four heavy explosions did little to upset the dreadnought.

Dumah had been knocked back several meters by the explosion, but got up after only a moment. His armor was scratched in multiple places, and a large dent was just over his chest. His purity seals were in tatters. He roared and leveled his flamer at the gunner.

The weapon gave a single might gout of flame before it stopped, damaged by the explosion. However, it was enough to engulf the gunner and all fix missile soldiers. The machine began to take off, but Dumah would have none of that. He dropped his flamer and charged the vehicle as it began to rise into the air. He grabbed it by one of its landing struts and began to pull it down, forcing his way into the passenger area. He threw the pilot out the windshield, his body shattering against a building nearby, then proceeded to destroy the vehicle from the inside out.

When it was over, Dumah emerged from the wreckage and stepped on the charred remains of the soldiers as he went and grabbed his now broken heavy flamer.

"Thank goodness Brother," Zerachiel said as Dumah approached. "I thought they might have gotten you."

"Weak. All weak," Dumah said and approached Rolos with his Flamer. Rolos looked at it thoughtfully while Toramech and Iruel continued the assault ahead of them.

"It can-an-an be fixed, but not-aught now-ow. I will carry it, and its mach-een-een spirit for the time being-nnggg," rolos said and grasped the flamer in two of his powerful mechanical claws. Dumah grunted and then punched one fist into his open palm and ran ahead for close-quarters combat.

"Stay close Brother," Iruel said as Dumah raced to his side. "We still have some ways to go." The central building loomed several blocks ahead of them, as well as what looked like a small army of soldiers and uniformed officers. Iruel revved his chainsword and strode beside Toramech, with Dumah and Zerachiel at his sides.

"Toramech, how soon until you can fire your cannon again?" Iruel asked.

"Moments," the dreadnought replied.

"Good. I want you to fire a blast down their center when I say. Aim for that tank in front. When you can, fire another blast to the left, where the armored transports are set up. Zerachiel, lay down some bolter fire to the right, and keep an eye on the rooftops. Dumah, use my bolt pistol until you are within melee range. You and I will charge at their center after Toramech fires the first blast. From there, you work your way along the left of them, while I will go right.

"Priest, stay close to Toramech and watch his back. Keep me informed over the vox if something goes awry, and don't let anybody pass by you."

"Yes, Sergeant," Zerachiel and Toramech said together. Dumah grunted again as he took Iruel's bolt pistol.

"Natu-ur-urrr-alleee," Rolos said.

"NOW!" Iruel said, and Toramech's cannon belched out its deadly light once more. The tank exploded, sending shrapnel and munitions into the troops around it. Survivors scattered, but were quickly hemmed in on one side by Zerachiel's fire. Dumah fired the bolt pistol at those on the right until Toramech fired once again, and then focused on the center of them.

He and Iruel both sprinted up the street into the heart of the soldiers, bullets sliding off their ancient armor like rain. Iruel's sword snarled as it sawed through men, armor, weapons, vehicles, anything in its way. Dumah kicked, punched, slammed, and head-butted anybody in range, each strike meaning somebody's death.

Anybody who made it past Iruel and Dumah was immediately shot down by Zerachiel, along with any potential snipers along the rooftops. The one soldier who did make it through was quickly dispatched by Rolos's welding laser. Those who chose to flee away from Iruel and Dumah in transports were quickly blown apart with pinpoint precision by Toramech.

In minutes what had looked like an almost unstoppable blockade had been dashed apart as if it were nothing but a cardboard fort. The soldiers tried a fighting retreat, but the long range of Toramech's cannon along with Iruel and Dumah's speed quickly ended that. The soldiers ran, as fast as they could, ducking into side streets and alleys to get away from the black-clad death dealers stomping their way forward.

Iruel and the others met no more resistance as they marched. They were at the front of the central building not long after. It was a massive, elegant structure, made of white stone and glass. It stuck up like a needle into the sky, one side gleaming silver in the morning sun. Toramech broke the large doors and most of the front wall as he forced his way in.

The main lobby was a high-ceilinged classical looking room, with pillars that curved up to the center of the ceiling and a vast, polished marble floor. Information desks, lounge areas, and doors to offices lined all sides of the room. At the back were a number of large elevators.

"Toramech, I want you to hold this floor with Dumah. We cannot be trapped in here. Zerachiel, Rolos, you are with me. I will take point. Zerachiel, your primary concern is keeping the enemy away from Rolos."

"Yes Sergeant!" Zerachiel said. He, Rolos, and Iruel attempted to fit into one of the elevators, but there was no way they were going to get in there. Iruel tried by himself, bending the frame out of shape and cursing under his breath.

"It seems we are taking the stairs," he said. "Upward then." He kicked open an emergency door and led the other two up, higher, higher, to their goal.


	7. Ch 7: Assault on Station Square PartIII

_Okay, here's what's been going on:_

_My place of employment has been going through a major crisis and is closing down. Busy there._

_A real live lit agent has expressed interest in my work (my REAL work, not this silly stuff here) and I have been doing mass amounts of editing and so forth for months. Busy there._

_I saw a shiny thing. Busy there._

_So yes, I've been away for almost 5 months or so. I'm a terrible person. I do apologize for my absence, and I'm going to shoot for a semi-regular update schedule. Cheers._

VII. Assault on Station Square Part III

"Where is he?" Sally demanded of the first nurse she could find.

"Miss?" the nurse asked, confused.

"Sonic! Where's Sonic the Hedgehog?" Sally almost screamed.

"Miss you will have to calm down," the nurse said in a maddeningly calm voice. Sally shoved past her, ignoring her shouts, and ran to the nearest directory on the wall. If what she had been told was true, he'd be in an ER. She found the floor it was on and ran up the stairs nearby, not wanting to wait for an elevator.

"No entry Princess," a doctor said when she approached one of the occupied ER rooms.

"Is he in there? Is he alright?" Sally asked, her voice starting to crack.

"As I already mentioned over the phone, he has severe injuries, but he will live."

"What…what…" Sally tried to continue.

"Do you really want to know?" the doctor asked. Sally bit her lip and nodded. "His left arm below the elbow is gone. Totally burned off, judging by the 3rd degree burns at his joint. Whatever it was that hit him caused severe burning along much of his left side.

"Whoever these bastards are, they aren't sending us any wounded. Only corpses. Except for Sonic, so we're able to spare our best staff for the time being."

Sally had placed a hand over her mouth and was sobbing quietly. Sonic, her Sonic. She'd always harped on him about being so arrogant, leaping before he looked, told him it was going to catch up to him someday. It was like it was her fault this had happened.

"He ran in here not too long ago, on the verge of shock. We got him in right away. He's lucky his metabolism is as fast as he is or he might not have a chance," the doctor continued and paused as he studied the princess. "Princess…Sally, he'll live. He'll have some scars, and he'll need a prosthetic, but he will survive and he will still just be as fast as ever."

"Th-thank you Doctor," Sally whispered, and then fainted.

* * *

"They have entered Station Square Center, Master," No. 53 reported.

"Of course they have," Eggman muttered.

"Why not focus their assault on City Hall?"

"Because they likely do not know it even exists, 53. I suspect that, whoever these 'men' are, that we are likely looking at the entirety of their forces on this continent, if not on all of Mobius itself."

"How did you arrive at that conclusion?"

"These men are trained soldiers. No soldier would assault such an enormous target as a city unless they had no other choice. They have no air support, no other troops are coming in from any other entrances, and they're heading for the tallest point for miles around.

"And no matter how strong they are, no force that size could dominate a whole city. They're likely just going in for reconnaissance. They'll probably leave as soon as they have what they want."

"And then what, Master?" No. 53 asked. Eggman frowned and remained silent.

* * *

Iruel took point up the staircase, with Zerachiel in back and Rolos between them. Thanks to his entirely mechanical legs, Rolos had no problem keeping up with Iruel. The three of them reached the top floor in minutes, Iruel kicking the door open and raising his chainsword.

Nothing. The place was deserted, and had been left in quite a hurry too, judging by all the scattered papers and tipped over chairs.

It was some kind of administrative area. Offices with large windows looked out over the city, lining hallways, all of them largely identical. Iruel marched along, coming out a large, open reception type area that had curving staircases leading up to another floor where a rather grandiose room was situated. Like the rest of the floor, it too was vacant, but provided the best view of the city.

The room was circular, and offered a 360 degree view of the city beneath them. In the center of the room was a polished black desk with some kind of monitor on it, and a plastic board covered in letters and numbers. Beneath it was a small glossy black tower that reminded Iruel of a miniature datacore.

"This looks prom-om-omisssiiing," Rolos said and walked over to the black tower device. He picked it up and placed it on the desk, dragging cords and cables along with it.

"We'll leave you to it Priest," Iruel said. "Zerachiel, I want you to scan the south and west sides. I'll cover north and east."

"Sergeant," Zerachiel nodded and approached the window. Iruel walked to the edge of the room and looked out and down. He used his bionic eye to zoom in, to scan, his finely trained mind capturing and holding every detail: layouts of streets, the basic shape of the city, its distances, the beaches and countryside and suburbs surrounding it. Iruel zoomed in on the far horizon as much as he could. There was something…different there.

The sky was almost entirely blue, except for a small area northeast of the city. There the sky was bruised an ugly blackish purple. It was the mark of pollution, industry, technology. Iruel smiled. This might be worth checking out. Iruel turned as he heard Rolos muttering to himself.

"Priest?"

"These-ese people are the worsssst kind of here-eh-eh-ticccs. No honor is made to this machiiiiine's spirit. No litanies are carved within-in-in it. N-n-no acceptable entry po-or-orts. It is a disgrace."

"Can you get nothing from it?" Iruel asked. Rolos had deployed a number of plugs, attachments, and adaptors from his innards, trying to connect them to the machine's entry ports.

"Possib-lee-lee-leeee," Rolos said and then let out a mechanical hum of satisfaction as he managed to penetrate the machine. "Ahhh…it speaks holy binary. This is good."

The monitor flickered to life and countless images and lines of text began to scroll by faster than Iruel could follow. Rolos was making bizarre noises, like clicking or squealing, that was the language of the machines. He remained immobile while he read the console with unnatural speed.

"Sergeant," Zerachiel said and pointed out the southern side of the office. Iruel walked over and looked down the side of the building and grinned.

"Much better."

* * *

In the lobby, Toramech and Dumah maintained silent vigil. Neither one was very chatty, which suited them both. They could hear the distant wail of sirens echoing through the streets. Some automated system conti9nued to blare announcements, but that was all.

Dumah was disappointed. The brief surge of the city's defensive forces seemed to have been all this place was capable of. He'd hoped it had been the tip of the iceberg, only the start of a much larger conflict that would leave this heretical city in ruins.

Dumah thought he heard something, a distant thumping sound, and then his vox clicked on.

"Dumah, Toramech," Iruel said over the vox, "We're almost done up here. You have incoming. What appears to be three tanks, ten troop transports and one of those flying machines. The machine is a different model than the others we've seen. I can see what look like missile launchers and heavy guns mounted to its sides."

"Copy," Dumah said.

"I will take care of the tanks, brother," Toramech said. "Go to one of the upper floors and see if you can bring down that machine."

Dumah nodded and began sprinting up the stairs. This wasn't ideal, but it was a little bit better.

* * *

The remaining heavy forces of Station Square had been mobilized during the slaughter approaching Station Square Center. They had originally hoped to act as simple back up, a superfluous show of force. When they'd been told that the other squads had been destroyed, tanks, gunship, everything, they had begun to worry.

Sonic and the other Freedom Fighters were nowhere to be found. There were some reports that the hero of Mobius was already dead. Regardless, the remaining SWAT, reservists, and other security forces had a job to do. The attack chopper above them boosted morale somewhat.

The tanks and dozens of other heavily armed men helped a bit too. Rockets were loaded into bazookas, ammo belts were loaded into M-60s and Gatling guns. .50 turrets on the troop transports were primed, armor piercing bullets were loaded into long rifles, grenades were clipped onto belts. They were ready.

* * *

The pilot of the attack chopper kept his speed low, along with his altitude. All of his weapons were hot and ready, as was his gunner. He didn't care what these things were, there was no way they could survive a full barrage from this beauty. Not even Eggman's contraptions lasted long against it.

All squads were approaching the main entrance of Station Square Center in a sort of semi-circle, with the chopper front and center. The pilot had a perfect view of the smashed entrance, and then grinned as that bulky mecha thing strode out. His gunner didn't even give it a chance to aim. The copper unleashed a salvo of missiles and armor-piercing .50 rounds in a hail storm of fire and death.

The tanks opened fire at the same target, three simultaneous cannon blasts rocking the street and exploding at the Center's entrance.

"That got 'im," the pilot said.

A beam of light shot out from the smoke and debris and cut right through one of the tanks and into two of the transports behind it. All of them burst into flame, the shrapnel and resulting explosions causing another of the transports to detonate.

"No god damn way," the gunner breathed. The smoke cleared below and they all saw the mecha, unharmed, but for a few new dents, the barrels of its massive cannon glowing like the devil's throat.

The gunner was about to launch another salvo when something passed in front of the sun above him. He glanced up and had two seconds to register that one of those robot men had leapt from a window high above them and was careening toward the cockpit.

Then he hit.

* * *

Dumah took a running leap at the window high above the flying machine when he heard the explosions. He broke through the thick glass pane as if it weren't even there, and plummeted downward.

His bionic eyes caught sight of one of the men in the cockpit glancing up, a look of pure surprise and horror on his face in the moment before Dumah's considerable armored weight crashed into the machine.

Both men inside were crushed instantly beneath Dumah. The cockpit bent and shattered and the vehicle began to descend, spinning out of control. Dumah held on for several moments, then jumped free at the last second, the servos in his suit and his powerful muscles and bionics launching him to safety. The vehicle exploded on impact, destroying another troop transport and a dozen men who were fleeing from the immediate area.

"MORE!" Dumah demanded and began assaulting the soldiers at melee range. One of them, a short armadillo-creature with body armor covering its already existing plates, charged head-on at Dumah. Dumah swung at him, but the diminutive creature ducked under his guard and rolled directly beneath the marine. He pointed his assault rifle upwards and unloaded the magazine at the underside of Dumah's helmet, knocking the marine's head back and causing his step to falter.

The barrel of the gun hissed and smoked and the tiny soldier stared up in disbelief as Dumah shook his head, then reared his foot back and kicked the armadillo-soldier across the street and through the window of a shop.

Toramech was stomping out of the building and vaporizing anything in his path, crushing whatever came close enough, and generally leaving bedlam anywhere he went. The final reserves of the SSPD assault unit were in shambles. Smoke and fire filled the sky along with the panicked screams of the remaining soldiers.

Toramech saw no more soldiers attempting to flee or fight. They were dead at his deet. Dumah approached him from the side, his massive pauldrons drooped along with his head. Toramech raised his power claw in what might have been his attempt at a shrug and said nothing. He didn't need to; they both felt the same thing: disappointment at such a quick battle.

* * *

"I have-ave securrrrred the data we need," Rolos said and withdrew his various conduits from the machine. "There is much-uch I have to process."

"Then we shall leave," Iruel said. Zerachiel took point and Iruel the rear as they descended the tall building and came out to see Dumah and Toramech standing amidst piles of bodies and smoldering metal.

"Was this their best?" Zerachiel asked, staring at the ruined gun ship and tanks. Dumah nodded sadly and kicked at a soldier's helmet. Zerachiel sighed.

"Come brothers, we're leaving," Iruel said. "We have what we came for, and hopefully it will enlighten us to a way off this pathetic rock, and where this Chaos Emerald resides."

"Why not simply remain, Sergeant?" Zerachiel asked. "It seems we've crushed any resistance they put up, and there's a good chance the Chaos artifact is here in the city. Why leave if we only intend to come back and destroy it later?"

"Because, Brother," Iruel replied. "We have an entire city to search, and while we wander blindly around, they could easily call in reinforcements. We ARE dealing with Chaos now, and it would be foolhardy to stumble about unfamiliar territory while they have time to gather whatever daemonic allies they might possess.

"We leave for now, study the data Rolos has acquired, and return if necessary. Now move out."

Without further discussion, the marines and the priest traced their way back out of Station Square. Knowing the way now, and with absolutely zero resistance to stop them, they made it out in short order.

They left Station Square a chaotic, terrified mess, with bodies littering its streets, the hero of Mobius gravely injured, and most of its police force demolished before it was even lunch time.

* * *

Across from the central building, the little armadillo soldier that had attacked Dumah reached for his walkie-talkie. He was certain most, if not all, of his ribs were crushed, and his insides felt like soup. Darkness was creeping at the edges of his vision. He barely had enough strength to press the button on the side of his radio.

"Dead…all dead. They…they're after the Chaos…" the soldier said, and then fell unconscious amidst his dead fellows.


	8. Ch 8: PostSlaughter

**VIII. **** Post-Slaughter**

The hospital room was silent except for the steady beeping of the machines monitoring Sonic. He lay still and quiet, as he had been for the past three days. His left side was a mess of burns, mostly covered for the moment by bandages. His arm was little more than a charred stump. An IV had been inserted into his other arm.

Princess Sally sat in a chair beside the bed, staring at a magazine without reading it. Tails was on the other side, having fallen asleep with his head on Sonic's bed. She was glad the little fox had finally drifted off. It had been hard for him the past few days, and he'd refused to sleep until Sonic awoke.

Sally herself had only managed to catch a few quick naps here and there. Ever since the mysterious strangers had left Station Square, she'd been in constant contact with Mobotropolis, Knothole, and a variety of other cities, towns, and settlements. Speaking to community leaders, militia commanders, anyone and everyone of note she could get a hold of, warning them of the danger, and asking for any aid they could send.

Thankfully, the damage to the city itself had been minimal. Most all of the buildings were untouched, save the central complex, and even that wasn't too badly damaged. The death toll however, was appalling. The SSPD's ranks had been demolished in a single morning. All of their heavy vehicles and assault equipment ruined, their most highly trained officers buried.

Except for one.

Officer Juhty was the sole survivor of the entire SWAT force. The little armadillo had been found not far from the mutilated bodies of his fellow officers, unconscious and near death in a store across the street from the central business complex. He was still in critical condition, while Sonic was, at least for now, stable.

The hospital was letting her and Tails stay past visiting hours as a favor, so long as they did not disturb the other patients. She looked at Sonic and had to fight the urge to shake him, demand that he wake up and say something stupid. But he only lay there, far too still and pale.

"Bastards," Sally muttered and wiped at her eyes. In the hospital, the quiet and steady beeping continued.

"I want my main factory's production of attack and siege units increased by fifty percent! No, no, a hundred percent! We can't miss this opportunity, 53!" Eggman said as he disembarked from Egg Force One and into the main hangar of his main ground fortress, half a world away from Station Square.

"Of course, Master," No. 53 replied as he followed behind Eggman.

"Sonic's still out of commission, all the conventional forces of Station Square are history, and the whole city is just sitting there! Waiting for me to come and snatch it up!"

"Of course, Master."

"How long will it take to recover most of the forces the hedgehog and his friends destroyed last time?" Eggman asked as he stepped onto a hoverlift that carried him and No. 53 across the hangar and down a long, steel corridor.

"We will have 25% of our losses recovered in a month with the increased production times," No. 53 said.

"What?" Eggman shouted. "A month? That blasted Princess Sally will have gotten some kind of defense force mobilized by then, and the hedgehog will no doubt be back on his feet. They'll have restructured some of their police force as well, no doubt. That's all the main factory can do?"

"The main factory south of Knothole was the first target attacked by the Freedom Fighters, Master. It suffered heavy damage and the loss of over 70% of its production capabilities. The smaller factories around Mobotropolis were completely destroyed, and all facilities within the air fleet were ruined in Sonic's final attack."

Eggman growled and smashed a metal fist into the hoverlift's console, making the platform swerve for an instant. "What's our current operating capacity? Every remaining factory, fully functional or not."

"15%."

"Damn that hedgehog! Damn him, damn him, and that fox, and the princess, and…and…" Eggman bellowed and nearly kicked No. 53 off the lift.

"Shall we continue with the increased production of attack units?" the robot asked.

"No. We need to focus on repairs. And we're too spread out. Ignore the remaining factories around Knothole, Mobotropolis, and Station Square. We'll consolidate my resources here," Eggman said. The facility they were currently in was where Eggman had designed, and constructed, the flagship of his previous air fleet. It was enormous, and still outfitted with most of his latest tech. And since Sonic had only been concerned with destroying his flagship, rather than where it had come from, it was all still intact.

"Recall every single construction drone and builder 'bot from every factory that still has working transports. I want them here immediately. Have the drones stationed here begin work on expanding immediately," Eggman said and No. 53 began relaying communications to the facility's central computer core so it could then distribute them to the local drones, and begin transmissions to the further factories.

"I doubt those machine-men are done terrorizing the city. We'll grow strong, and wait. The hedgehog is already weakened, the citizens of Station Square are terrified. When the machine-men attack again, we'll take advantage of it, and make a strike of our own," Eggman muttered.

"And if the machine-men decide to attack us as well, Master?" No. 53 asked.

"We'll just have to try and make friends, first," Eggman said, and began to laugh as they flew past dozens of drones already beginning construction of the new main factory.

"Welcome back, Officer Juhty," a short, fat man said beside Juhty's bed. The officer blinked his eyes through a haze of painkillers and looked at the speaker. It was Mayor Huffering. Standing beside him was possibly the most beautiful creature he had seen: a thin, elegant cat-like Mobian with horn-rimmed glasses and snowy white fur.

"We were rather worried about you," the Mayor continued. Juhty reluctantly tore his gaze away from the vision at the Mayor's side and to Captain Orun, Head of the SSPD, standing on the other side of the bed. Orun had rough, canine features and a sizable underbite bristling with short, thick teeth. Two sharp, scarred ears poked out beneath his hat.

"Juhty," Orun said in a gruff voice. He looked like he hadn't slept in years.

"The others," Juhty croaked, and the Captain shook his head. "Dammit."

The silence stretched in the room until the beautiful Mobian beside the mayor said, "Officer, my name is Ms. Links, Mayor Huffering's aide. I know you've been through something horrible, but if there's anything you could tell us, it may save others."

Juhty nodded and replied, "I don't remember much. Just that it sounded like they were after one or more of the Chaos Emeralds. And while it isn't anything they said, I can tell you they definitely aren't with Eggman."

"What makes you say that?" Orun asked.

"I've fought Eggman's forces more than once. They're all machine. Dumb, pre-programmed puppets that wander about and occasionally fire a laser or something. These machine men were soldiers. The one I tried to get, he acted almost mad with bloodlust. Machines don't do that. And the way they all talked to that mecha, I think there might be some kind of pilot inside. And the one with all the arms on his back in the creepy robes, I think I heard one of them refer to him as 'Priest,'" Juhty finished.

"Priest huh?" Ms. Links muttered to herself and jotted something down.

"That's good to know Juhty, thank you," Orun said and patted Juhty gently on the shoulder that wasn't broken. "Rest now Officer, you've earned it."

The three left, leaving Juhty alone to wonder why he alone had survived out of all his fellow officers. Sleep was a long time coming, and when it did arrive, Juhty still didn't have any answers.

It had been over 36 hours since the attack on Station Square when Iruel cut down a final palm tree and emerged with the rest of his squad into a clearing. Though calling it a clearing was an understatement, as an area encompassing a few square miles had been clearcut, with all plant life either burned away or paved over.

Iruel and the others had followed Rolos's direction, going off the maps he had acquired from the heretical datacore. He had led them away from the main roads once they had left the city, and far away from their original base of operations. They had gone north and east of Station Square, through miles of jungle without stopping to sleep, and eating whatever they could grab along the way.

In the midst of the clearcut area was some sort of small factory. Five small domed buildings surrounded a much larger sixth structure, that vaguely resembled a pyramid with a flat top instead of a pointed one. Smoke stacks sprang from the top of the central building, though nothing issued from them. The whole of the factory was dark, and looked a mess. There were craters in the pavement, chunks of walls missing, broken pipes and cut wires. Everywhere there was the wreckage of what had obviously been some kind of robots, and there were even pillboxes along the perimeter of the factory that had been blown open or otherwise ruined.

The whole of the complex was surrounded by a very high concrete wall topped with vicious looking razor wire. There were large chunks of the wall missing, blown open by some unknown explosive, or looking as if they had been knocked down by a small battering ram. Iruel used his bionic eye and zoomed in on the distant factory, and saw several men and xenos armed with rifles walking along the perimeter. There were a pair of large trucks filled with the scraps of the ruined robotics.

"Ye-eh-eh-esss," Rolos said. "This will be-ee-eeee sufficient once I have con-on-on-verrrrrted it into an adequate shrine to the Machine-een-een God."

"I was hoping there would be some worthier opponents to fight," Zerachiel said and sighed.

"No matter, it only means we will dispatch them that more quickly and have a proper base of operations," Iruel said and readied his chainsword as he prepared to leave the cover of the treeline and charge the unsuspecting Mobians.

"No! I neeeee-eed-eed them," Rolos said. "I am only one pree-ee-eist. Those men down there will become my servitor-or-orrrrs. The xe-eee-nnnnos are of no use to me ho-ow-ow-ever."

Dumah grunted his understanding while Zerachiel nodded sadly. Toramech took a step back, lowering his powerclaw and lascannon. He wasn't built for non-lethal takedowns.

"Very well. Zerachiel, purge those xenos from this planet. Dumah, you and I will subdue the human guards for the priest."

"Yes Sergeant," Zerachiel said, though somewhat heavily and trudged away, sticking to the trees until he would be in a better position to strike. Iruel looked after him and scowled.

"Brother Zerachiel seems troubled," he said. Toramech rotated towards him and briefly raised, then lowered his lascannon in what might have been his version of a nod.

"He has expressed his disappointment at the weakness of our foes. I suspect he thinks it is unbefitting a marine to slaughter such powerless enemies," the dreadnought said.

"Befitting or not, it is a marine's duty to obey the will of the emperor. This planet is full of things that are offensive in His Sight."

"I do not disagree. But Zerachiel is still young. He is still testing the limits of his new strength, and cannot do so against opponents such as these."

"I suppose," Iruel said, then looked over at Rolos. "Priest, remain here while Dumah and I subdue and restrain the humans. Toramech shall remain by your side."

"Th-ang-ang-k you, Sergeant," Rolos replied. Without further discussion, Iruel and Dumah took off at a crouching run. The guards, Mobian and man alike, were clearly not expecting anything. They weren't so much patrolling as milling about the general area. One of them was even talking on some kind of portable speaking device. He was the closest, so Iruel came up behind him and delivered a soft thump to the back of his head with two fingers.

The man fell over, unconscious and likely with a significant concussion but still alive. Dumah had gone on ahead to the next man, but wasn't quite so fortune with sneaking up on him. The man turned and saw the huge marine barreling down upon him and screamed. He got off several shots which went wide from his panic, and then Dumah ripped the rifle from him, threw it aside, and then popped him one on the side of his temple.

The short burst of rifle fire alerted the other guards. Iruel heard a high-pitched animal scream which was quickly cut off as Zerachiel made short work of the xenos. The remaining humans quickly began shouting to each other.

"It's the machine men from Station Square! Form up in factory hub B and take cover!" shouted one of the men, clearly the leader. The handful of men and Mobians ran for one of the small domed buildings, but not before Iruel and Dumah managed to knock another couple humans out and Zerachiel blew a few more of the xenos guards into clouds of red mist.

The guards managed to put up a hasty and rather pathetic line of defense behind some scrap metal and fallen I-beams that Dumah charged through and swatted aside like cardboard. Zerachiel and Iruel were right behind him; the former fell upon the xenos with his bare hands, pulping their heads with minimal effort, while the latter worked with Dumah to subdue the guards. It was over in a matter of seconds.

"Oops," Dumah said. Iruel glanced at him and saw that the marine veteran had gotten a little overzealous and accidentally punched on man's head clean off his shoulders.

"Be more mindful next time, Brother," Iruel chided and Dumah nodded solemnly. Zerachiel was standing off to one side, looking down at the body of one of the xenos creatures he had killed.

"Do not pity the xenos, Brother," Iruel said, noticing Zerachiel's somewhat downcast stance.

"No, no pity Sergeant. Only regret that they are not stronger. These are hardly foes worthy of the Astartes. The stories I heard in training…they were of the most incredible victories against the most terrible of foes. Impossible situations overcome only by the might of the Space Marines and the Will of the Emperor. The resistance we've met with here is, by comparison…disappointing."

"I agree. Even a Guardsman would have little trouble taking these pathetic creatures out. Alas, there are none here, and we must carry out the emperor's Will where we can, not when we choose," Iruel said, a slight edge creeping into his voice. Zerachiel stood up straighter and gave a curt nod.

"Of course Sergeant, you are right."

Iruel grunted as Rolos walked into the domed factory building with Toramech. The priest was carrying a pair of unconscious humans in his mechanical claws, and dragged another on the ground with his hand. The tech-priest focused his robotic red eyes on the unconscious human already inside and nodded.

"Yes, this-is-issshhh will do," Rolos said. "For now, anyway-ay-ay. It will taaaa-a-a-ake some t-t-t-iiiii-me to convert them to proper Serv-erv-errr-vitors, but it can be done. As soon as they are rrrrrrread-eeeee, I will set them to work making this an ap-ap-apprrrrr-opriate shrine to the Machine God."

"Excellent. I look forward to seeing your results, Priest. Dumah, go with Zerachiel and secure the perimeter of this factory. I will go and see if there is any form of administrative area, and maybe see if there is a weapons cache anywhere. Toramech, remain with Rolos while he works and guard him well."

So having received their orders, the Marines left Rolos to his work. The tech-priest clicked the ends of his mechanical limbs together in what might have been anticipation and leaned over the nearest unconscious human form. A heavy-duty circular saw whined to life and came in close to the man's head, cutting through the skin and bone of his skull. Blood and white chips flew and spattered on the expressionless metal mask covering Rolos's face.

"Rejoice, heretic, for soon, you will serve the Machine God," Rolos said, and began his operation.

Halfway across the planet Mobius, on a vast and beautiful island floating high above the waters of the ocean, Knuckles the Echidna stared at the bright red Chaos Emerald, floating within its shrine at the heart of Angel Island. People had been trying to take the Emerald for ages, through brute strength, stealth, or trickery, like that damned Eggman. Getting conned by that oaf was still one of Knuckles's greatest shames.

This was different though. Some other force that Knuckles had never even heard of was after the Emeralds, and they'd apparently almost killed Sonic, if all the rumors were to be believed. That alone put things at a whole other level.

But it wasn't just that. He'd sensed changes in the wind, in the air of Angel Island itself, and even in the Chaos Emerald. It was subtle, but something was different about it, something hypnotic, strange and…and perhaps a little menacing. Knuckles had always been protective of the emerald, always aware of his duty to guard it, but lately it had been more than that. He'd been spending a lot of time in the sanctuary, missing meals, sleeping less. When he did sleep, he was troubled by dreams as red as the Emerald itself.

But it was his Emerald, and he had a duty to safeguard it against whatever was trying to take it. He was loathe to leave it behind to go meet with Sally and Sonic, but he knew he had to. He reached out and touched the emerald's flawless surface, felt its curious warmth and the pulse like a heart coming from it.

As always, a single word sprouted into his mind when he touched the Emerald these days. It had started shortly before the attack on Station Square. He caressed it, and the name beat in his skull in a steady tempo. A name he did not know, but feared. But the more he heard it, the more he liked it, the more it made his blood roar, made him feel stronger, and made his red dreams more wonderful.

Knuckles whispered to himself in time with the name beating in his head as he held the Emerald.

"Khorne. Khorne. Khorne. Khorne…"


End file.
